Second Chance
by XinterestingX
Summary: Newsparks was currently the main population of Cybertron. Not that Megatron or Stascream was planning to spend much time with them, they were currently wondering what to do with the rest of their existence. Now, if only some newspark would leave them alone to do just that… [Prime-verse]
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! This is me one year and a half _after_ I wrote this chapter. My writing has, hopefully, changed and become better in that time. Before you start reading, I want you to know somehting:**

 **This was my first fanfic. I wrote the first chapter on a whim really.**

 **I don't have any update chedule. I know now that it would probably've been best if I wrote the entire story first, and then published it. But since it's too late now, you just have to wait however long it takes me to write the next chapter.**

 **I also don't know how long this story will get. As of now, 13.01.2017, it's 27 chapters long. The word count for each chapter goes up and down.**

 **For some of the chapters I had a beta-reader, but most were only edited by me, and my english isn't perfect (I'm norwegian).**

 **Last thing, this story takes place in Prime-verse after the the movie.**

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The sparks flew up from the core where Optimus had just disappeared, their beautiful colours and promise of life giving the Autobots a bittersweet taste on their glossas. This truly was a new beginning, a new start for everyone. The war was over, one Decepticon had joined them, and another, the leader, had proclaimed the Decepticons no more. Yet… they all new that after thousands of vorns fighting, change would not simply come over night.  
However, they will change, they **will** keep the peace, all of them. This, they vowed as they saw the sparks spread to the far ends of Cybertron. As the dawn of a new age began.

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 _System function: 100%_ , He onlined his optics slowly, it just seemed fitting to do so. _Energon level: 100%_ , that was good, right? Right, energon is something he needed, he knew that. And 100% meant he had enough for…well, for long enough. As his optics opened fully he saw two brilliant white, moons wasn't it? Yes, two white moons high up in the sky, given the landscape around him a white-ish colour, and welcoming him to this life.

He took in the sight for a moment, enjoying it, before he looked down at himself. Orange, that was his main colour, with a yellow flame-like detail covering most of his chest plate, and dark purple being the colour of his peds. The rest of his legs were gray, along with his stomach. Orange skirt plates covered the joints between his hips and his upper body. A confident smile spread across his faceplate, he liked the way he looked.

He started to walk towards the moons, towards the light. Light was good, it made it easier to see and felt good when it was dark, like now. However, his two lights soon disappeared when dark clouds suddenly came from nowhere. He stopped as a bad feeling swept over him. The liquid that started to come down from the sky hissed as it hit him, it didn't hurt, but it was a bad sound. The clouds seemed to have gotten even thicker, and he could not see past the rain that came down all around him. His light… it was nowhere around him… he had nowhere to go.

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Megatron knew he was going to hit the acid rainstorm, but he also knew that there was an old neutral refugee camp straight ahead. The chances of it still being whole was slim, but all he needed was some kind of roof to cover him from this rain, nothing more. _Not that I deserve even that…_  
When Optimus had trapped unicron inside the Al Spark vessel, Megatron knew there was only one other pace he could have hidden the Al Spark… and that Optimus would not live to see Cybertron reborn.

A wave of sadness swept over him as he entered the storm. Optimus Prime… his brother… was gone. He made a sad chuckle. Just a short time ago, those news would have given him a feeling of victory, of triumph. Now, it made him feel empty.

To think that his anger all those vorns ago would make him so blind that he needed unicron to open up his optics for what he was really doing. Optimus never wanted to go against him, but he couldn't just watch Megatron break down what little that was left of Cybertron. Thus, the war started. True, Cybertron needed to change, and Megatron will never regret standing up to the council, but the aftermath of that day…

The acid hit his armour and slowly melted it down. He knew Optimus had forgiven him, that was just how he was, but living the rest of his existence without his brother seemed impossible… he- was there someone down there?

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 **That's the first chapter. Feel free to leave a reveiw.**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you redconvoy, Sidekicks-anonymous and GoldenEagle13 folowing this story, it really means a lot :)**

 **A special thanks to you GoldenEagle13, your comment helped me a lot when I was looking this over.**

 **The Transformers belngs to Hasbro.**

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Chapter 2

The newspark looked around frantically, trying very hard to find the light, or a light. However, it was futile, the clouds had hidden everything from his view. What now? The acid, he now knew that was the liquid raining down on him, was starting to hurt him. He needed to find some shelter, but he didn't know where to go- the sound of engines stopped his flow of scared thoughts.

He turned in the direction it came from and saw a flying form coming towards him. When it was only a few meters from him it transformed and landed skilfully on the ground. Without any questions the grey mech pointed behind the newspark and shouted above the sound of the storm.

"We must find shelter. Transform and drive in that direction" and then he transformed and flew of in the same direction he had pointed in.

The newspark stood and watched the mech for a moment before he started to run after him. Then he transformed, letting his t-cog bend and mix his components until a sleek four-wheel car was driving across the landscape.

At first, the newspark was so shocked he almost stopped. He wasn't quite sure how he had transformed, he just knew that it was supposed to happen. The feeling of letting his chassis transform everything within him to fit this vehicle, sent surges through his entire being. Good ones.

As soon he had found control, he increased his speed to his maximum, racing after the flyer.

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Megatron landed on the outside of the camp, looking for a roof big enough to house to cybertrnoians. He had been right to expect little of this camp. What before had been an energy station, was now barely two walls fighting against the acid to stay upright. What must have been a mess hall was now only a doorway leading to broken metal and glass.

Megatron ran a few steps within the camp before he spotted two walls that still was holding part of the former roof. He ran towards it, checking for any leakage and weak spots. As soon as he had deemed it strong enough to hold out the storm, heard the engine from the young cybertronian.

He turned around and watched the young one transform for what must have been his second time, and run towards the camp. He stopped for a short time looking around the rumble before his optics met Megatrons, and continued running.

As soon as he was safe from the acid, he leaned against one of the walls, venting hard, letting his chassis cool down. After a few kliks he sat down and looked up at Megatron:

"Thank you. I didn't think anyone else was out here".

Megatron didn't sit down, but continued standing, looking over the newspark.

"Nor did I"

It was clear he had been out in the rain longer than Megatron, his colours missing from several places, but it didn't seem like he had any serious injuries.

"Are you in any pain?" he asked.

The newspark took his time bending his arms, legs and neck, feeling for any discomfort. After a while he answered,

"No, it was starting to hurt just when you arrived, but now it's okay".

Megatron nodded, satisfied with the answer. Then he sat down leaning against the same wall as the newspark, though with some distance between them. He could hear the young one shifting in his place, and knew a question would soon come.

"Any way to get some light here?" Megatron turned and saw a nervous look in the young ones faceplate though he tried to hide it.

"Why? Scared of the dark?"

"No" he answered a little too quickly, "I just don't like it".

Megatron mused a little of this new fact, before he gestured at the newsparks' chest plate.

"Every ground vehicle has headlights, turn them on".

The newspark looked down where Megatron had pointed. He seemed to concentrate for a moment before his lights went on from his lower chest. He looked both surprised and pleased with his success

"Thanks".

Again, it was only quiet for a short time before he could hear the young one shift and turn. He waited for the next question.

"So what's your name then?"

He didn't answer right away. For many vorns now, his name had been spoken either with fear or with distaste, and he knew it always would. Yet, despite everything that it would represent, he was still proud of it. He had achieved it on his own, and to him it represented his freedom.

"My name is Megatron"

The young one looked away for a moment, obviously thinking hard. Megatron wondered if he realised he had no name of his own, given it had been the guilds job to choose both names and caste to every cybertronian. However, the young ones' expression soon changed to that of satisfaction and he looked back at Megatron again.

"My name's Rodimus"

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 **Where you surprised of who it was or did you know that from the last chapter?**

 **Feel free to correct any mistakes and tell me what you think of my writing style. Good and bad.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you everyone for folowing this, it makes me so happy that people like it!**

 **Like redconvoy found out, I have a deviantart page as well. I like to draw too, but have currently not put out any pictures. This story is there though, I will update both sites at the same time.**

 **I have no idea how often I will update. School is starting soon over here, so I wont have that much time then. I will do my best to write some every day, that way you wont have to wait too long.**

 **Transformers belongs to Hasbro**

Chapter 3

His answer had obviously surprised Megatron, it didn't show much, but his sudden wide optics was enough. Not that Rodimus could understand why.

"Did you choose it yourself?" he asked

Rodimus sent him a glance, shifting his position so that his whole chassis faced Megatron.

"Of course. Who else?"

Megatron did not break optic contact, but his thoughts were somewhere else.

"And why, if I may, did you choose that name?"

Rodimus tilted his head, thinking for a moment before answering.

"I don't know. Just like the way it sounds". Megatron nodded, looking back into the storm. Then, it was quiet again, only the sound of heavy rain coming down around them. Rodimus took this opportunity to look around at his surroundings.

The wall they were leaning at was old and worn. One end was supposed to have met another wall, but that one was long gone, the other did meet one on left side of Megatron, which was just as worn. Together they supported the roof above them, which wasn't whole any longer, but at least both of the could sit comfortably enough under it. Moreover, it kept the acid away from them.

Several of the buildings around them was even worse off than this. Some only had one wall, other had pillars that once supported roofs, and some only had broken metal to tell you that it had once been something there. He turned back to Megatron, needing to satisfy his curiosity.

"What happend here? This place looks like someone dropped a bomb over it."

Megatron looked at him for a moment, his faceplate didn't show any sign of chancing, but his optics did show something. He then turned away before Rodimus could tell what it was.

"It was most likely more than _one_ bomb". His voice was low and his tone flat. At first, Rodimus thought it was a bad joke, but the look on Megatrons faceplate denied it. Rodimus' optics grew wide.

"You're serious" It wasn't a question, but a fact. He looked away again, shifting to let his headlight shine on some of the rumble. Through the rain, he just vaguely see that some of the metal had burn marks and knew that could only come from extreme heat. He turned back to Megatron. "Why?"

Again, Megatron took his time before answering. He thought for a while, as is choosing his words carefully.

"Our planet, Cybertron, has been at war for a long time, it only just ended some orbital cycles ago". He let his optics look around their surroundings.

"This was a neutral refugee camp, one of many that where destroyed during the war".

Rodimus closed his intake and looked at the ground, then asked another question:

"What was the war about?"

This time, Megatron thought hard, Rodimus could see that, but not as long as before. Meeting his optics Megatron answered:

"Even though Cybertron was at peace, it was not a good place to live. Two cybertronians wished to change things, to the better. They became friends, brothers, fighting for the same cause. Finally, one orbital cycle, they stood before the high council and addressed their cause. One was a gladiator; he spoke first, demanding equality among all cybertronians and the right for them to choose their own destiny. The other, a librarian, asked for the council to see that their system was destroying their planet and he asked for a new Prime to lead into a new golden age."

Megatron stopped for a moment, again thinking hard, but never looking away. This time he spoke slower.

"The librarian was chosen as the next Prime, and his brother felt betrayed because he had wished for that for himself. His anger clouded him, made him blind, and that is how the war began. One side, those who followed the Prime, fought for freedom. The other side, those who followed the gladiator, fought to oppress them and all who stood in their way".

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Rodimus was the first to break optic contact, looking first at the ground then at their surroundings. His expression was grim, as if imagining one of the battles taken place here. The rain that hit the ground and roof above them was for the moment the only sound.

Megatron turned his gaze outward as well, but his mind was far away. He could still remember when Orion had ended his speech, how the anger had boiled up in him, because Orions words had gotten through, while Megatrons had not. Now, he knew that the council had not been ready for his harsh words, even though they had been true, that was why Orion had spoken so carefully.

Finally, after 50 000 vorns, Cybertron was free from both the corrupt council and Megatrons wrath. Although he would never be welcomed among anyone anymore, he would stay and watch his home enter yet another golden age.

He shifted his gaze back to Rodimus, the young cybertronian still thinking about what he had heard.

He would stay and watch from the distance new cybertronians grow, learn and choose their own paths.  
And, sometimes, he would pretend Optimus was standing next to him, smiling, satisfied that their dream was finally a reality.

 **Feel free to point out any mistakes, both in writing and in chracters.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you all for following, it makes me happy :)**

 **Transfomers belongs to Hasbro**

Chapter 4

Megatron could see some of the light from the sun shining through the clouds in horizon. He had been awake all night, not feeling tired enough to try to recharge. Rodimus, on the other hand, was recharging to Megatrons right, currently lying on his back with his head leaning against the wall.

He had been shifting position often, first sitting, then lying down on his back, then rolling over on his front, and so on. Megatron had found it mildly amusing, especially when he had attempted to sit up again, but then fall on his side instead, without waking up.

Now that the sun became more visible, and the clouds blew away, Megatron stood and walked a few steps away before attempting to contact the Nemesis. He hoped the autobots were still using it as a temporary base, not having many other means to contact them. He could contact Knockout, but the best would be to talk to the autobots directly.

He waited, knowing that if they were still there, they wouldn't accept his call without a long discussion among themselves first. After about 3 cycles, they answered:

"This is Ultra Magnus, state your business Megatron"

 _Good, straight to the point_

"Am I right to assume that you are gathering the newsparks?"

"To help them at the start of their life, yes. Why do you ask?"

Megatron turned and looked over at Rodimus, who now had were lying on his front, arms and legs spread out.

"Because I have one right here with me" Before they could ask, he continued speaking, "I found him during the night in the middle of an acid storm, he is not in any pain".

There was some muffling voices in the background, before Magnus again spoke,

"And why did you wait till now for contacting us?"

He raised his gaze, looking at the now clear sky.

"The storm was too strong, my signal would not have gotten through while it was still raging".

Again the muffled voices, this time more of them. He returned to look at Rodimus, who now had one arm tucked underneath him and one leg bent at the knee joint.

"We will open a ground bridge near you and pick up the newspark".

Megatron closed his comm. and went back to Rodimus and stopped beside him.

"Rodimus" No reaction. He tried again, a little louder.

"Rodimus, wake up". Nothing. Rolling is optics, Megatron bent down and shook him by the shoulder. Finally, he opened his optics.

"Huh, what's wrong?" As if on cue, ground bridge opened up a block away from the. This quickly attracted Rodimus' attention.

"Wow" He got up and took a few steps closer to the ground bridge, "what is that?" Before Megatron could answer, Bumblebee, Arcee and Bulkhead came through, all caring a stern look on their faceplates. Rodimus turned and looked at Megatron, question written all over his faceplate.

"They are the autobots, the ones who followed the Prime". Recognition filled his faceplate and he turned to face the autobots again, but didn't move.

Bumblebee walked in front, no weapons drawn, but clearly on edge. He gestured to Rodimus, but kept his optics at Megatron

"This is the newspark?"

Megatron nodded slowly, knowing that now, anything he did could be interpreted as hostile. Rodimus looked from Bumblebee to Megatron.

"What do they want with me?"

Realising he might not want to go with strangers, Megatron spoke calmly when he answered the question.

"They will take you to the other side of Cybertron and help you start your life. You can trust them, they will take care of you."

Rodimus thought for a moment, and then he started to walk slowly over to the autobots.

Satisfied, Megatron turned and started to walk away, none of the autobots objecting or demanding any more information from him.

"Wait, you're not coming with me?"

Turning, he met Rodimus' optics. Megatron narrowed his optics for a moment, taken back by the unforeseen question. Looking past Rodimus, he saw that the autobots were surprised as well. He then turned back to Rodimus to answer.

"No"

"Why not?"

Megatron didn't show sign of any emotion, however, he was unable to meet Rodimus' optics.

"My place is not amongst the autobots". Then, knowing Rodimus would demand a more detailed explanation, Megatron quickly transformed and flew away.

 **Feel free to point out mistakes in both writing any in the characters.**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story. (I didn't inted for that to rhyme, it just happend ;) )**


	5. Chapter 5

**I would have published earlier, but they needed me at work.**

 **Thank you to everyone who comments on this story, it means so much. I love to read what you think about the story in general, and what you expect from the characters.**

 **I feel that this chapter was a little rushed, but at the same time not... Tell me what you think.**

 **Transformers belongs to Hasbro.**

Chapter 5

Five orbital cycles ago

The predacons showed no mercy, letting their claws and dentas rip and bite everything they could reach. At first, Starscream had begged and screamed; now he barely had enough power to whimper. They didn't seem to think about what they did to him, as long as it hurt him.

His hood showed all kinds of warnings about the damage in his chassis, and he knew this was worse than any beating Megatron had inflicted on him. At least then, he had the reassurance that Knockout would fix him. Now, his biggest hope was the autobots.

Not only did they hate him as much as the monsters that were currently tearing him apart, they also had their base two cities away. There was no way he could contact them, the predacons had destroyed his commlink, and they were not likely to check on him any time soon. There really was no hope this time.  
Giving up fighting, he finally let go and went into stasis lock.

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The grey chassis finally went limp. It took the predacons some time to realise it, but when they did, they stopped. The biggest one transformed and went over to the flyer. Looking down at Starcream for a moment, he snarled and started to kick him towards the closest edge with his pedes. Taking his time.

At the edge, he let the seeker dangle a little before he fell over. Starscreams limp chassis swirled some on its way down, before falling with his back first and his limbs after. He hit the ground hard and fast.

As the dust set, the mangled form of the seeker became clear:  
He was covered in scars, his right pede crushed from the knee joint and down, the same wing bent downward, the other had fell off in the fall and was now laying by his left pede. Hundreds of fuel lines were either sprung open, or completely parted from each other. Energon began to leak down his body and make small puddles on the ground.

There was no sound of his vents working, nor any sign of his chassis lifting and sinking as it took in air, no sparks erupting from his wounds. He lay completely still.

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Present

One orbital cycle after Rodimus met the autobots

Though the predacons had thrown Starscream down the tower, they never bothered to look after his chassis. Therefore, the one to find it was Bulkhead, who originally was looking for abandoned decepticon bases. The sight of the mangled seeker had shocked him.

Originally, he planned to leave him there, not even bothering to check on him. He deserved that and much more.  
Walking away, he thought about the time they had found him on earth, trapped in Arachnids web. In addition, as he recalled the event of that day, he thought about Optimus.

He stopped, looked back at Starscream and hung his shoulders.

He waited a few kliks, as if expecting something to happen. Then he began walking back. As he grumbled about beginning to turn soft, he put his servo over Starscreams chest plate and felt a very faint sparkbeat.

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Knockout was preforming every known scan to determine what damages needed to be fixed immediately, and those that could wait. He had put him on life support, but soon it wouldn't really matter. The chassis was overheated, energon levels dangerously low and the sparkbeat grew weaker and weaker.

Behind Knockout, some of the autobots were having a… discussion.

"What in the name of Cybertron made you bring him here?"

"Trust me Arcee, I wanted to leave him behind"

"Then why didn't you?" Bulkhead didn't answer right away, letting Arcees' question echo for a moment. When he answerd, his voice was that of a defeated warrior.

"I couldn't"

It was quiet for a moment before Arcee spoke again, softer.

"I-I know Bulkhead… I guess would have done the same thing".

"We all would" Bumblebee spoke soft as well.

"Despite our…opinions, on Starscream," Ultra Magnus said, "we all know that bringing him here was the right thing to do. You are to be commended Bulkhead".

They then stopped talking, and Knockout could feel them staring at him and his patient. After a few cycles, he turned and began to lay out the facts.

"He has lost a lot of energon and many of his inner organs have had to live with barely half of what they should, in addition to being overheated, his repair system focussing on his spark and processor. His right pede is crushed and he will most likely walk with a limb for the rest of his life. Then there is his wing".

He stopped and looked at it laying on a side table, then at the autobots.

"If, and only if, he does survive and I failed to restore it… he will not only be flightless the rest of his life, but may also have lost his feelings in it".

He paused again. Letting them think for a moment before asking:

"So, shall I save him, or not?"

They all looked at each other, speaking with their optics, their faceplates serious. Then after a silence that felt like it had lasted for vorns, Magnus nodded his helm.

"Do it doctor, we will contact Ratchet to aid you in what he can".

They then all went outside, leaving Knockout alone with Starscream. He began collecting every tool he had before starting the operation.

"Well, isn't _this_ familiar".

 **Feel free to point out any mistakes, both in my writing and in they way the characters a portrayed.**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story (I almost forgot to write this)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Here it is, hpoe you like it. Thank you everyone for folowing and reviewing this, my heart jump everytime you do(not cheesy at all)**

 **Thank you GoldenEagle13 for editing :)**

 **Transformers belongs to Hasbro**

Chapter 6

Megatron walked in the outskirts of Kaon, looking at his former home. There he had learned to fight, he had earned his name, he had faced death and realised that they all were unique, and he had befriended Orion Pax.

A sad smile formed on his faceplate. He could still remember his surprise when Orion first had contacted him. Not by the fact that someone wanted to speak with him, but that one from Iacon would send him a message across the grid and make sure that Megatron was the only one who saw it. Then he had seen the message: _What you say is interesting, but more people hear than you realize. Let's speak_.

And they had: first through the grid, then video link, and at last face to face. They had spoken much about the questions of freedom and what should be done to achieve it.

They had not agreed on everything, and it was not rare that they would argue about how to convince the council to change their ways. Orion truly believed that they could convince them by merely talking, while Megatron believed action was in order, even violence at some point. And despite Megatron being a feared gladiator of the pits, Orion would not let that scare him to silence. That was why Megatron had soon grown to like Orion. He had not completely dismissed Megatron's ideas; instead, he would try to see things from his point of view and make Megatron do the same for him.

And he had never stopped. Even after Megatron had waged the war for vorns, Optimus would still try to reason with him - make him see that what he was doing was wrong. Optimus had never truly given up on his brother, and Megatron silently thanked him for that.

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Rodimus sat on the _Nemesis_ 's roof, his legs dangling over the edge while he leaned on his arms. The Autobots had told him and the other newsparks to go out for a while. They hadn't said why, but he had overheard them talking about Bulkhead bringing someone to the ship.

At first, he thought it might be Megatron; that maybe they wanted to talk to him about something. But then he heard them say something about a 'Starscream', and had dropped that thought. Smokescreen had then dragged him away from the action and avoided his questions. It seemed as if the Autobots liked to do that.

Yes, they had answered his question about why Megatron left, filling in some of the holes in his story: Megatron was the gladiator, and had started the war when Optimus was chosen as the next Prime. Then, after their last battle, Megatron had changed, not wanting to wage anymore war, and Optimus had sacrificed himself in order to let Cybertron produce new life.

But that only created more questions: What was the last battle about? What made Megatron suddenly see again? Why did it have to be Optimus? Why wouldn't Megatron live with them now that he was good again?

They hadn't answered him. They said they would later, but he didn't want to wait. Was it really so hard to answer? Megatron had been thinking a lot before answering his questions, but at least he answered. He had really listened to him.

Rodimus looked down at the other newsparks. They were talking and playing on the ground, with Wheeljack keeping an optic on them. He liked the other newsparks; they understood his curiosity. However, though they wanted to learn more about the war, they didn't share his interest in Megatron. But that was because they hadn't met him. Once they did, he was sure they would like him too.

"Hey Rodimus!" one of the newsparks shouted, "Come on down and join us!"

Springer's shouts made everyone turn and look up at Rodimus, making him the centre of attention - which he didn't really mind.

"Nah, I'm good!"

"Come on, you've been sitting there forever!"

Before he could come up with a funny comeback, Wheeljack spoke.

"Springer's right, you should get down now."

"Why?"

"'Cause I said so. Besides, you could get hurt up there."

He was about to protest again when an idea started to take form in the back of his processor. "Okay, I'll be down in a cycle."

He quickly got up and walked to the door. Then he found the elevator, and descended down to the same level as the bridge. Checking if he was alone, he walked through the halls – disliking the echo in them – and found the door outside the bridge. Walking the last steps as quietly as possible, he leaned close and listened.

"-ong do you think it will take?"

"I'm no doctor, but probably a long time. He was pretty messed up; they might have to work through the entire night."

It was Smokescreen and Arcee.

"…think he'll make it?"

"I'm no psychic either."

Arcee's voice had a bad tone in it, but she wasn't mad or sad. More like she was keeping something inside, and though she really wanted to let it go, she didn't. And who were they talking about?

"Well, with two doctors working on him, there is nothing more we can do." Bumblebee's voice joined them. "The rest is up to Starscream, and he has survived a lot of damages."

'Starscream'. The one they were bringing to the _Nemesis_. He must've been hurt. Was he a friend of theirs?

"Yeah, but I don't think even Megatron would rip off his wings. Maybe an arm or a leg, but not a wing."

For a moment, Rodimus was glad he wasn't with them. The thought of someone losing a limb was horrible, but that Megatron would rip it off... Had he really done that? He couldn't see Megatron as an angry warlord; but then again, Megatron said it himself that he had been blinded by anger. If anger could make him start a war, then hurting someone wasn't really a big deal.

Another thought came to him: If Megatron had once hurt Starscream, then that must mean they knew each other. Was Starscream his friend then? No, Rodimus doubted that even the mean Megatron would hurt his friends. Perhaps they worked together during the war.

"Mhm… d'you think… Megatron would wanna know about what happened to Starscream?" Bulkhead asked.

"Why? He never did before."

"I don't know, just thought… He _did_ take Starscream back to the Decepticons after he'd gone rogue. Even after everything he'd done, Megatron didn't scrap him."

They _had_ worked together. Closely, too, it seemed like. Maybe he could ask Starscream some of his questions about Megatron, since the Autobots weren't going to answer them. But he was in the medbay being fixed by two doctors, Knockout and one he hadn't met. Arcee said it might take all night, which meant he would have to wait.

Rodimus turned and started to walk to the main hanger where the doors would be wide open. He had been gone too long already, so he couldn't stay and listen more, even though he really wanted to. He would have to pass the time with the other newsparks, but first thing next orbital cycle, he was going to visit Starscream.

 **Feel free to point out any mistakes, both grammar(there will be much less now that I have help) and in my writing.**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Thank you everyone for your reviews, it really helps me to know that someone is actually enjoying it, so please keep it up :)**

 **Thank you to GoldenEagle13 for editing :)**

 **Transformers belongs to Hasbro**

Chapter 7

Starscream awoke to the steady beep of a spark monitor. His optics darted around the room, slowly recognising it. It was the medbay on the Nemesis. At first, he thought he had gotten yet another beating from Megatron, but couldn't think of what he had done this time. He hadn't schemed against Megatron since he was accepted back into the Decepticons.

Then, his memories returned.

…

 _How am I still online?_

The beasts had torn him apart and he had fallen into stasis lock, believing he would wake up in the Well of All Sparks. How did he end up on the Nemesis? He tried to lift his helm to look around, but the pain that soared through him stopped him quickly.

A weak whimper escaped him as he tried to supress the pain. Everything started to spin around him; even the berth and his inner organs joined in. Clenching his servos, he tried to make it stop. At last, after several cycles, he could feel his organs going back to their places and the berth settling down.

Opening his optics – which he couldn't remember he had closed – he saw Knockout standing next to him. The medic was pushing several buttons on Starscream's spark monitor, which no longer made any sound, while opening and closing his mouth. He was saying something, but Starscream couldn't hear it.

"Ca…n't 'ear you… Kno-kout."

What had been meant to be more like scolding came out as a horrible, rasping sound. It made Knockout turn his helm, though, a surprised expression on his faceplate. Then he continued to push the buttons, though faster this time. Soon Starscream could feel the sweet arms of recharge taking him far away from the pain.

ssssssssssssss

Ratchet stared at Starscream for a moment before he looked back at Knockout. "What did he say?"

"I don't know, but it can't have been something pleasant. Did you hear his voice? Scratch that; did you hear the horrible sound coming from his voice box?!" Knockout did an overdramatic shiver. "I'll fix that as soon as I've fixed his finish."

"His finish? Shouldn't we worry more about the fact he might not make it? His condition is still critical; we never should have left him!"

Knockout turned from the monitor, facing Ratchet.

"No? So we should have both stayed here, even though we were exhausted, and continued working on him?" Knockout raised an optical ridge. "We won't be any good as doctors if we can't take care of ourselves. Besides," he took a damp cloth and started to clean Starscream's right wing, which they had managed to straighten out, "he'll make it. Trust me, he always does."

He then moved the cloth to clean the torso. Ratchet moved to gather the tools he knew he would need for the operation. During the night, they had fixed everything critical and stabilized Starscream. Now they were going to first fix his pede and left wing, check again that the right wing was healing correctly, and seal shut his wounds – they hadn't had time to do anything beyond making sure none of them were leaking. Then, as Knockout had pointed out, his voice box needed a look. The rasping was probably caused by too little energon; nothing serious. And /then/ Knockout could fix his finish. Alone.

As Knockout finished cleaning Starscream, Ratchet moved to start operating on the right pede. They had checked earlier if it needed to be replaced – which it didn't – before figuring out how to fix it. It was crushed, so they needed to warm up the metal in order to bend it back to where it needed to be. Then they had to open it up and put all the fuel lines and nerves back to the right places. They had both done this before, making it easier to do this time.

"Okay, ready when you are Ratchet."

Knockout turned on a small machine and held it over Starscream's pede, letting a thin beam of red light warm up the metal. Ratchet moved quickly, using several tools to stretch, bend and form the metal. He didn't have to make a perfect replica of it, only make it as close as possible, and Starscream's auto-repair systems would do the rest. Not that Knockout seemed to remember the last part.

"Careful! You're making it too big!" and "No, not like that! It's supposed to be smoother."

Ratchet had only had two groons of recharge and didn't have the energy to deal with this.

"You know, I was a fully educated medic long before you were even born," Ratchet growled. "I don't need you to tell me how to do my work!"

They switched places, Ratchet holding the machine and Knockout working. Knockout was supposed to fix the wires, but started to work the details on Starscream's pede.

"When you do it right, I'll stop." One of his stupid smiles started to form over his faceplate.

"His systems will fix that. Why are you so set on fixing it yourself? It's a waste of precious time."

His smile was now a grin. "If I have to look at it, it has to be perfect."

"Puh-lease! You are overreacting over some small triviality." Ratchet continued to grumble over the misguided former Decepticon.

When Knockout finally finished the /important/ repairs, Ratchet turned the machine off and put it down. Looking at the pede, Ratchet had to admit Knockout was good. It was almost a perfect replica; one had to look closely to see the differences. Not that he would say so – Knockout had enough ego already, which he would see more of during their time in the medbay.

It was going to be a long orbital cycle.

ssssssssssssssss

Rodimus stood outside the medbay. He could hear the doctors bicker, and was a little amused by it, though he would much rather be in there with them.

He had woken earlier than most of the Autobots in order to visit Starscream, but the doctors – he still hadn't met the new one, but knew now that his name was Ratchet – had beaten him to the medbay. They had been working for a while, and were now talking about the treatment Starscream would need to recover. It would take a very long time before he could walk properly, along with the fact that they weren't sure his left wing would work again.

As he listened, he began to wonder who had hurt Starscream. He only knew of the Autobots and Megatron, and neither of them had done it. So who was this third person? Or perhaps it was more than one. Rodimus wanted to ask someone, but if he did, they would wonder how he knew about Starscream. And he couldn't tell the Autobots that he had eavesdropped on them. So, he had to wait until he could ask Starscream himself.

He could hear some movement in there: the sound of metal dragging over metal, then their voices.

"Since I have been working among more flyers than you, I think it is only reasonable that I will operate and you work as my assistant." Knockout's tone said that he had already decided how it was going to be and was just now voicing it.

"Only if you are sure his 'horrible' scars won't put you out of focus, Knockout." Ratchet was clearly annoyed; not once did he sound something close to 'happy'. Rodimus wondered if he had been working too hard and had too little recharge, but the way Knockout treated him made Rodimus think that maybe this was how Ratchet always was. Just like how Magnus was always so serious and Knockout was always smug.

"That is why I have you, to put me back on focus."

Rodimus smiled. He liked Knockout. Not that they had spent much time together, but you didn't need to when it came to Knockout. Besides, you learned a lot by eavesdropping. Knockout always knew what to say in response and acted as if he was in control.

"One mistake and you're out. Understand?" Ratchet was dead serious.

"Whatever you say, Ratchet". He was smiling; it was impossible not to hear.

Ratchet made a disregarding sound, and then it was silent. If Rodimus stopped venting, he could hear the spark monitor; other than that, it was only Knockout saying which tool he needed.

Rodimus wondered if he should stay or go. He wanted to see Starscream as soon as possible, and waiting for the doctors to come out was the best way to know when it was safe. But he had no idea how long the operation would take. He couldn't stay here for the entire orbital cycle; he had studies with the other newsparks, and not showing up would give him some unwanted attention. Besides, he wanted to learn more about Cybertron, even if the teacher was Ultra Magnus.

If he came during the night, it would most likely be safe. But what if Starscream was recharging? Rodimus didn't want to wake him, not when he had been through so much already; yet he wanted answers and was getting impatient. He had tried to ask Wheeljack, Bumblebee, Bulkhead and Smokescreen about Megatron, Optimus and especially the last battle they had. They looked at him weirdly when he mentioned Megatron, and sad when he mentioned Optimus, but no answers were given. It was starting to get on his nerve.

Rodimus made a decision. He would come late at night and stay as long as it took for Starscream to wake up – even if he had to wait for the entire night, and only got a few cycles to talk.

 **So next chapter, Rodimus _will_ meet Starscream. **

**School is starting today, so I wont have that much time to write anymore. But, I will continue ;)**

 **Feel free to ponit out any mistakes, both in the writing(thanks to GoldenEagle13 there probaly isn't any) and the way the characters are protrayed. I myself hate it when characters are OOC, so please tell me.**

 **Oh, and good luck to any of you who also are starting school. I know it's hard, but keep going okay :)**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	8. Chapter 8

**First of, sorry for the wait. This chapter was hard. Starscream is a WAY more complex character than I thought, so it took some time to write. It probably is the reason I love him.**

 **Second, I am so glad taht more people are folowing this, and even favoritetd. That along with your comments keeps me inspired :)**

 **Third, GoldenEagle13 are editing my chapters, and did a really good job with this one. Let's take a moment to appreciate the hard work.**

 **and last, Transformer belongs to Hasbro**

Chapter 8

Rodimus lay still on his berth, listening to the other newsparks venting. It was late, but he continued waiting a little longer in case some of the Autobots were up late as well. He didn't want to run into any of them on his way to Starscream. That wouldn't end well.

He had tried to make the orbital cycle go faster by keeping preoccupied, like playing with Springer and the other newsparks and concentrating during their studies with Ultra Magnus. He had quickly found out that he liked learning, especially history, and was rather good at it, too. But Magnus was really not a good teacher. A good leader, sure; he had orchestrated just about everything on their little base, making sure it was all going well, but he was not a qualified teacher.

When Rodimus had asked Arcee about having someone else, she had said that, other than Magnus, none of them had much education – except for Knockout, who was busy. Since they wanted to start teaching the newsparks the basics, Magnus and Knockout would be their teachers for the time being. Rodimus hoped that some of the refugees they were waiting for could step in when they came, because they seriously needed someone else.

Rising from his berth, Rodimus looked around the room. It had been one of the resting quarters to the drones, but now served the newsparks. Some had complained, wanting their own rooms; but Rodimus secretly liked not having to recharge alone. It was a big room with bunk-berths everywhere, so they had enough room for everyone, and more when they arrived. He and Springer, along with several of the others, had chosen a berth close to the door, which thankfully meant he didn't have to walk around the berths for long. The door opened for him without a sound, as if encouraging him to go.

He couldn't see anyone in the halls; but, just in case, he walked as quietly as he could towards the medbay. He still disliked the echo. The sound of his steps repeating over and over again annoyed him. He wasn't sure why, but it did.

Finally he came to his destination.

He didn't know what he expected to see when he entered the medbay, but it wasn't what met him. Starscream had several cables connected to all kinds of places on his chassis – most of them on his torso – making him look like some kind of monster. His right pede was held up a little higher than the other, and had something strange strapped around it. Remembering the doctors talking about it, Rodimus guessed it was to keep it still while it healed. His left wing was back to its rightful place, at least Rodimus thought so, with something strapped around it as well. His left side was also slightly raised to not put too much pressure on the newly reconnected wing, so Starscream was lying in what looked like an uncomfortable position.

Rodimus stepped closer. Looking Starscream over again, he noticed that Knockout had indeed fixed his finish. There were some scars here and there, but other than that, he looked good. Rodimus fixed his optics to look at Starscream's faceplate. At that exact moment, Starscream opened his optics.

The action startled Rodimus so much that he jumped backwards and hit a table with tools on it. They scattered to the ground, disturbing the silence. Rodimus looked back at Starscream and could see him grimace at the sound.

"…Sorry." He picked up the tools and put them back on the table. "You just startled me."

Starscream looked confused, looking Rodimus up and down. "Who are you?" he asked carefully. Rodimus could hear that his voice was much better, though still a little weak.

"I'm Rodimus. I'm one of the newsparks."

Starscream seemed surprised for a moment, before his optics darted around the room. "Where is Knockout?"

"He and the other doctor, Ratchet, are recharging." Rodimus pointed with his thumb towards the door. "They worked almost the entire night fixing you when Bulkhead brought you here, and then they worked the entire orbital cycle too."

Starscream seemed to think for a moment before he met Rodimus' optics, looking suspicious. "What are you doing here?"

Rodimus took a few steps closer to Starscream, he hadn't moved since he put the tools back on that table. "I wanted to ask you some questions."

sssssssssssssss

Without actually asking, Starscream had found out that, firstly, it was the one known as Bulkhead who brought him here; he had probably found him on a scouting mission. Secondly, he had been here for about two orbital cycles and both Knockout and Ratchet had worked on him. He must have been very badly damaged if the two of them had to work through the night. Thirdly, and most surprisingly, the Allspark was back. He guessed the Prime had somehow found it and brought it back.

Now he had some other questions at hand: Why would a newspark come to him, a Decepticon, to ask some questions in the middle of the night?

His first suspicion was that the Autobots, for some unknown reason, had decided that this newspark was their best chance of getting information out of him. However, several factors made him dismiss the thought immediately: Rodimus was alone, and Starscream was not, in fact, strapped to the berth. He had no energy to spare to hurt the newspark, but he knew the Autobots wouldn't take any chances. And if they had, in fact, lost their minds and gone with the idea, there was no reason for them to 'interrogate' him in the middle of the night.

His second thought was that he was an Autobot seeking revenge for something Starscream had done. It wouldn't be the first time – take Arcee as an example – and coming this late would make for the perfect timing. But he was a newspark, anyone could see that, which meant he had nothing to revenge. Should Starscream need any extra reassurance, he could take the incident with the table. Someone who was preparing for revenge would not have made it possible for Starscream to startle him, and not talk with him without an icy tone in his voice.

So that left him with no answer to his question.

"And why would you come to me and not to your Autobot friends with your questions?"

Rodimus looked like Knockout when you caught him fixing his finish instead of working. "The thing is, every time I ask them, they tell me they can't answer right now; that I have to wait. But, when you hear that over and over again, you get really sick of it. So, when I heard that someone who knew Megatron was here, I thought perhaps you could help me a little."

Rodimus hadn't said 'please' with his voice, but the rest of him did. Starscream had to admit it was interesting how newsparks worked. They spoke with everything they had, voicebox and chassis.

With that aside, Starscream analyzed what he had heard. The Autobots were ignoring him? Starscream doubted that they would do that, especially the Prime. Unless, of course, he for some reason had questions where the answers were on a 'need to know' basis; and Starscream found that unlikely as well, since this was a newspark.

"That doesn't tell me why you are here this late, or should I say early?"

Again, the guilty look. "Well, you see, I'm not supposed to know that you are here. They sent all of us newsparks outside when Bulkhead brought you here." A panicked look flashed across his faceplate as he seemed to realise something. "Please don't tell them that I came here. I have no idea how they will react, but it won't end well for me."

Starscream was about to ask what he would receive in return, but stopped. He could make this work in his favour. It sure wasn't going to be much, but Primus knew the Autobots wouldn't help him. Starscream met Rodimus's optics.

"I have some questions of my own, but due to our… history, I doubt the Autobots will help me any more than they helped you." Rodimus didn't interrupt him, but waited in anticipation. "But if you help me, I will answer your questions and won't tell anyone about your little mischief."

Rodimus relaxed as Starscream finished talking. "Sure, I'll tell you what I know."

 **Now, please tell me what you think of Starscream. I really want to know.**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	9. Chapter 9

**I am sorry to have kept you guys waiting, I feel a bit mean... I suffered a bit from writers block, so it took some time before I was happy with what I wrote.**

 **Anyway, let's thank GoldenEagle13 for edeting, I know I apritiate it. And thank you all who are folowing and reviewing. It still makes me smile whenever you do 3**

Chapter 9

There was someone shouting his name and shaking him by his shoulder. He rolled over on his front, trying to ignore whoever it was. It had been a long night and he hadn't gotten nearly enough recharge.

"-up Rodimus!"

He opened one optic and turned his helm to look at Springer and Blurr.

"I'm trying to recharge here," he mumbled, closing his optic again.

"Do you have any idea how late it is?" Blurr talked fast as usual, with barely a pause between the words. "We were all supposed to meet Ultra Magnus outside two breems ago, remember?"

Rodimus bolted up and looked at them for a klik. It was midday. He was supposed to be outside. "Scrap!" He jumped out of his berth and ran out through door and down the halls. Springer and Blurr came up on his right side, the latter not really running, just walking fast.

"Is he mad?" Rodimus asked. He hadn't seen Ultra Magnus mad, but when one thought about how he was when he was 'glad' it wasn't really something one wanted to experience.

"More like a mix between mad and disappointed, but you can bet you're in a big heap of trouble!" Springer answered. "How come you didn't wake up earlier, you never recharged so long before."

Rodimus didn't answer. He could come up with a bunch of very good excuses, but he didn't want to lie to his friends. However, he couldn't tell them that he had been up half the night talking to the former second in command of the Decepticons either.

He and Starscream had quickly found good way to answer each other's questions: Starscream would ask first, and when he had gotten his answer, it was Rodimus's turn; then Starscream, then Rodimus. It just came naturally.

Most of the questions had ended up being about Starscream, like what he did on the job and how long it took him to reach his post. He really liked to hear about it, just like when Megatron had told him about the war. It was interesting. It also seemed like Starscream liked to talk about his job; he got this sort of proud tone in his voice. It was kind of funny.

Starscream had answered almost every one of his questions, minus why Optimus had to sacrifice himself, since he didn't even know it had happened, and what changed Megatron. Even though those were the two questions he wanted answered the most, Rodimus was happy with the answers Starscream had given him. He now knew what Megatron had meant when he said Cybertron hadn't been a good place to live. They would most likely learn about that in their studies later, which meant he now had a head start. He also learned some stuff about the war in general, like when it officially started, that they had to leave Cybertron – which was why there was so few bots here now – and how they found another planet with energon.

Rodimus, on the other hand, hadn't been able to answer as many of Starscream's questions, which made him feel bad. He wanted to get some answers during this orbital cycle, so when he visited Starscream again he could help him a little.

When they finally ran out of the hanger, everyone outside turned towards them. The other newsparks – of which there were now eighteen including Rodimus, Springer and Blurr – were lined up in front of Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack. The former had a stern expression on his faceplate. Rodimus didn't like the way he followed his movements.

Springer and Blurr ran to their places in the middle of the line, while Rodimus ran all the way up to Ultra Magnus. He stopped about an arm's length in front of him.

"I'm sorry I'm late Ultr- Uh, Sir!"

Rodimus still didn't understand why he wanted them to call him 'sir' when he had a name, but now was obviously not the time to ask. Ultra Magnus looked, as Springer had said, like he was both mad and disappointed. It didn't show in his voice though.

"I did give clear instructions on when and where you all were to meet me today, correct?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Then why are you late?"

"I was recharging, sir."

Ultra Magnus raised an optical ridge. "And why were you recharging for so long?"

"I had problems falling into recharge last night, and when I did it was very late." It wasn't exactly a lie, considering how he had been lying awake a while after he returned from the medbay. "It won't happen again, sir!"

"Good. Now, since you have a little extra energy, I am sure you won't mind helping Smokescreen clean up the storage rooms on the Nemesis after your classes."

A quick, silent snicker was heard behind him, and Rodimus was sure he could identify Springer and Blurr's voices in the midst of everyone else. He made sure to send them both a glance when he turned to join their line, along with a few others who looked teasingly at him. Sadly, it didn't work the same way as when Magnus did it, just made them look even more amused. However, he knew Smokescreen liked to talk about, well, everything. If he was careful, perhaps he could get Smokescreen to answer some of his questions along the way.

sssssssssssssss

At first Starscream thought it was the doctors who had come back to check him and give him some details about his condition. It was partially true: Knockout was one of the bots who came in, with Smokescreen, Arcee and Bumblebee right behind him. This was not how he hoped this orbital cycle would start, but they never did go the way he wanted them to.

"I was wondering when you would come, Knockout." He ignored the Autobots for the moment. "You do know it's already midday?"

"To be honest Starscream, I didn't think you were awake yet." The doctor walked over to Starscream's monitor and started to press some of the buttons. "You didn't look too good the last time I was here–" Knockout looked over his frame, a proud expression crossing his faceplate– "Though with my expertise, it shouldn't be a surprise you're recovering so fast."

The Autobots rolled their optics as they stood in the background; watching, but not speaking. Smokescreen was leaning against the wall with Bumblebee to his right and Arcee to his right again, the latter two standing up straight. They hadn't drawn any weapons, but were clearly on edge.

"Oh, how lucky I am." Starscream let the sarcasm drip off his glossa, not hiding his emotions on this matter. Of course, Knockout wasn't fazed by it.

"I am glad you realise that Starscream." How Starscream wanted to wipe off that stupid grin of his; perhaps scratch his paint as well, while he was at it. "You didn't look like much when you arrived here, but I worked through the night to save you. And look at you now."

Starscream wanted to point out that Knockout hadn't worked alone, but with the help of the Autobot medic, of all bots. However, if he did, they would ask him where he got that information from, and for the moment Starscream thought it would be beneficial for him to keep his promise to Rodimus.

The newspark had given him some interesting info, like the Prime's 'mysterious' demise – of which he hoped the Autobots would give him more details – and Rodimus's meeting with Megatron. Starscream wasn't quite sure what to think about his former master anymore. He had thought he would leave Cybertron since there would be nothing for him here, but instead he had saved a newspark from an acid storm and told him about the war… About his war.

Rodimus had shared the story Megatron had told him. Starscream was surprised at Megatron's choice of words: how he had actually taken the blame for the war on himself and how he explained his reason for starting it. 'His anger clouded him, made him blind': Megatron's very own words. It explained not only the start of the war, but also the end of it. Megatron wasn't angry anymore, not the way he used to be, apparently; thus he wasn't blind either. He now saw what his wrath had done to Cybertron and no longer wanted to continue on his chosen path.

However simple it sounded, it wasn't that easy for Starscream to comprehend it. Not after fifty thousand vorns of endless battling, and he knew he wasn't the only one. From what Rodimus had told him, Starscream guessed the Autobots were just as lost as him, perhaps even more so. That was one of the reasons Starscream had avoided answering Rodimus question about Megatron's change: he still had to understand it himself. Moreover, it most likely wasn't wise to tell a newspark about an evil force who had taken complete control of Megatron's chassis and then tried to destroy their planet.

"Cut the small talk, Knockout, we don't have all the time in the world." It was Arcee – the Autobots finally made a move.

"Yes, yes. I just needed to check his vitals." Knockout moved behind Starscream with a datapad. "They have some questions for you Starscream, and from the looks and sounds of it you are ready to answer them."

The three of them took a few steps closer and stopped in a half circle around him, as if to tell him there was no escape. He cursed them all inwardly.

 **Be aware, I don't know when next chapter will be done, I had actually planned on putting this out last weekend. So yeah...**

 **I will write though, just a little slower than I want to.**

 **Feel free to tell me anything you want to about this story, both good and bad stuff :)**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	10. Chapter 10

**I am very sorry for the very long wait, but like I told GoldenEagle13, who is doing an amazing job as beta, school dosen't always understand the concept of privat life.**

 **Oh, I am finally going to give you this:**

 **Vorn - 83 earth years**

 **Orbital cycle - day**

 **Groon - hour**

 **Cycle - minute**

 **There are many different names that means different things, these are some of the ones I use. They may be wrong, but in order to not confuse anyone, myself included, I will continue to use them. And many of the names of the body parts, I got from the .net (p.s not a link, I don't know how those work)**

 **Transformers belongs to Hasbro**

 **ssssssssssssssss**

Chapter 10

Starscream raised himself onto his elbows in order to be at optic level with the Autobots. Even though it caused him pain, he was not going to let them speak to him while lying like a crippled prisoner.

"Well?" He ignored the shaking in his voice. "What questions do you want to ask?"

The bug Bumblebee spoke first. Starscream had forgotten he had his voice back.

"First off, what happened to you?"

"The Predacons." He growled. It wasn't really an explanation, but the looks on their faceplates made it clear they understood. They most likely knew of his 'relationship' with Predaking, and Starscream's part in the destruction of the clones on earth. Needless to say, they all wanted him dead.

"We haven't seen them since the battle with Unicron. When did they attack you?"

"Right after the battle; they must have followed me to Darkmount."

"And you were in stasis this entire time?"

"I don't remember waking up, so that must be the case."

There was a small window of quietness; everyone was lost in their own thoughts. Starscream decided to take hold of this opportunity and get some answers himself. "Speaking of the battle, where is your leader? Wouldn't he want to be here and hear the answers himself?"

There was nothing unusual in his voice or tone, Starscream made sure of that. However, he wasn't sure anyone would have noticed if it was. Even Knockout, who he couldn't see, seemed affected by his question.

"Optimus is gone." Smokescreen was the one to finally answer. "He sacrificed himself to give Cybertron new life." His voice portrayed his emotions: sorrow, loss, and some anger.

"What is that supposed to mean?" This time he didn't have to pretend; he really didn't understand how that sentence was supposed to give him any answers. Most likely, it was the one thing he could relate to with Rodimus.

After a few cycles of waiting, watching the Autobots shift their positions and look at each other, Smokescreen answered again, "Optimus had just located the Allspark and was bringing it back here. Only, when he came, Unicron was already here ready to destroy both the Allspark and Primus. So, to protect the Allspark, Optimus put it inside the Matrix and trapped Unicron inside the artefact that originally held it. And since the Matrix was a part of him…" Smokescreen didn't need to finish, Starscream understood the rest.

That certainly was a shocking turn of events. It was rather ironic that after finally winning the war, Optimus had to die. Here he had escaped death time and time again, and now he willingly let go of his life to let new ones spark. Of course, Starscream didn't say that aloud, only nodded slowly as if it was a lot to process.

There was a shifting noise behind Starscream. Knockout was writing something on his datapad. "…I'm going to have to ask you to hurry. There's some tests I need to do and Starscream will have to rest a lot these coming orbital cycles."

Bumblebee seemed confused for a moment. He looked past Starscream and was obviously having an optic conversation with Knockout. Starscream wanted to turn, but remaining on his elbows was more than enough challenge for him right now. Bumblebee shifted his optics back to Starscream.

"We know you worked with Shockwave to make the two new Predacons, and we haven't seen him for this entire time either. Do you know where he is and what he might be working on?"

Starscream scoffed, "I haven't the slightest clue. He could be anywhere in the universe for all I know." He then took in their expressions. They were clearly in no mood for this and their talk about Optimus had made them very uncomfortable. Since he for the moment was their prisoner and they already disliked him enough…He had to work with them for the time being.

"Unless Megatron has contacted him, he doesn't know about the cessation of the Decepticons." He spoke in a matter-of-fact tone; the very same tone that had gotten Megatron's attention many times during the war. "In that case, he still has a 'logical' reason to continue his work against you. Whether that is creating more Predacons, which he has the resources to do, or some other sort of weapon, I don't know. He also has a whole network of labs all over Cybertron. I know of a few of those and I doubt he is using any of them."

They were all a little surprised at his sudden change, but also content with the new information. "Okay, thanks Starscream." A very strange combination of words coming from an Autobot. Starscream would not forget that. "We'll leave you to your work. Good luck."

"Thank you, Bumblebee." Knockout sounded distracted and distant. He didn't come forward from his place behind Starscream, but stayed there even after the Autobots left.

"Well, are you going to stay there all orbital cycle?" Not seeing the other person in a room was very annoying. After millennia working with Soundwave, Starscream had learned to hate that.

"…" No answer, but there was some sort of tapping sound.

"…can you feel that?" Finally the medic spoke.

"Feel what?"

Silence again. Then he heard footsteps coming around him, before Knockout appeared by the monitor. He bore a serious expression, reading fast whatever was on the monitor, mouthing some of the words. He still had the datapad in his servos.

"Lay down again, Starscream." He did as he was told. It was a relief to rest his arms; he hadn't even thought about them during the questioning. They ached and he felt a slight throbbing at the point where he had supported his weight. Using them more this orbital cycle was out of the question.

Meanwhile Knockout moved a scanner over his frame and took notes of what he saw. His expression didn't change. After he was done, he looked at both his datapad and the monitor.

"Are you ready to hear about your injuries?"

"Yes, I've been ready for the entire time." For some unknown reason, Starscream had forgotten to ask Rodimus about the injuries. He wouldn't have gotten much, but not knowing anything was unbearable.

"You sustained damage to all of your organs. We – Ratchet and I – replaced one of your air vents, but it all seems to be recovering like it should. Your processor and spark were the least damaged parts and are now nearly fully operational." Knockout still had that grim expression despite the currently good news. Starscream waited. "Your right pede was completely crushed. We have restored it as best we could, but it doesn't seem like it will recover completely, which means you will have a limp for the rest of your life." He stopped and met Starscream's gaze, as if waiting for a reaction. However, this wasn't the bad news he'd waited for; there was something more.

"Go on."

Knockout continued hesitantly, "… your right wing was bent, but is now recovering fine. Every sensor is working like it should." He put the datapad away and met Starscream's optics. "Your left wing was completely torn off when you came. We did our best when restoring it, but when I tested your sensors just now you didn't feel it, and the scans doesn't show any sign of it being a success."

Starscream didn't say anything.

"The reason for this could be that it's taking longer for it to restore – the wings are the most delicate part of a Seeker, after all. The wing was lying on the ground all by itself for nearly five orbital cycles, and your chassis had adjusted to live without it. It's simply too early to know for certain." Knockout trailed off, leaving Starscream to think for himself. It was rare for an injury to be irreparable; it was one of the many positives with not being organic. Almost everything could be replaced with a part from another Cybertronian – his t-cog, arm and now an air vent as well were examples of that – and some parts could even be built as MECH had done.

However, there were some parts that were either very hard or impossible to replace. Optics varied from one being to another, and Knockout had not been able to replace Breakdown's optic after the incident with MECH; the same went for wings. If there was someone who had the same general build as he did, then it would be no problem to take their wings and give them to Starscream. But that was not the case.

The drones had completely different wings, and even if there was another Seeker on Cybertron, there was no one in sane condition who would give them up for the sake of him. Once, they might have had spare wings fit for him on the Nemesis, but the war had drained them of every resource they had. Especially spare parts.

Starscream let the thought linger in his mind for a moment. Before the war, he was an energon seeker. He remembered how they operated: First they found a mine, then they scanned it and studied it, and finally they broke the surface. That was what he was doing now. He let Knockout's news sink in, he repeated every word, he looked at it from a doctor's point of view…then he broke the surface: His wing might not recover. He might not ever fly again; he would be grounded and surrounded by the accursed Autobots with no way to escape them. With no way to be alone. With no way to fly for the sake of flying… He would no longer fly at all.

Starscream cursed. Aloud

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 **Feel free to point out any mistakes, both in grammar and in the way the characters are portrayed.**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello again! I am happy to give you the 11th chapter and I hope you will enjoy it :)**

 **Thank you** Answerthecall **and** Sidekicks-anonymous **for always leaving reviews, and to every one else who does, I appreciate every one of them.**

 **Thank you** GoldenEagle13 **for doing Beta and pointing out stuff in my writing that needs fixing.**

 **Transformers belongs to Hasbro.**

Chapter 11

"And how long did you stay there?"

"I worked with Alpha Trion for the rest of the war on Cybertron."

Rodimus made a grimace while cleaning the floor. Smokescreen was taking care of the computers on the other side of the room.

"Sounds boring, especially after all that training you went through."

"Yeah, in the beginning it was really dull." He turned around to face Rodimus, stopping the work for a moment. "But the old bot was a real good guy. Despite the little action, I'm glad I got that assignment."

Rubbing the last spot clean from whatever was covering it, Rodimus stood up and took a glance over the room. The floor and walls where as clean as they could get, the computers looked brand new and the many shelves were ready for whatever stuff they would put on them.

"Looks like we're done here." Smokescreen said, moving all the polishing cloths, cleaning lubricants, and many other things they hadn't used yet towards the door. Rodimus took half of it and started to walk towards the next room.

"How long do we have to do this? We'll never get to clean all the rooms in one orbital cycle." The Nemesis had many storage rooms for different things: energon, spare parts, drilling machines, weapons and some more. There was no way they would get through all of them.

"No, you and I are taking half of the energon room – it's huge so we're taking that one last - and the ones that held spare parts, and then someone else is taking the rest. At least I hope I'm not going to do this several times, it's worse than monitor duty."

"Good, then all I have to do is keep out of trouble and hopefully I'll never have to do this again."

Smokescreen chuckled and turned left in a hallway. They were heading for the room at the end, where they were going to have to spend the next groon or so.

"What happened anyway? You sat up half the night doing… what, exactly?"

Rodimus tried to think of an explanation. So far, he had been able to avoid lying, but it didn't seem like he could do that anymore. Telling the truth was not an option.

"I really liked the history part of the studies, and was reading some of the notes from Springer and Blurr." Yeah, very convincing Rodimus. "And I added what Megatron told me about the war." That's better. Every single time he mentioned Megatron, the Autobots got lost in thought and forgot whatever they were doing. A quick glance at Smokescreen, and Rodimus knew he had succeeded. The older Cybertronian got a very distant look, as if he was looking at something only he could see.

"Hm," he said, acknowledging Rodimus's statement, "working on your studies is a good thing, but next time you should do it during the day."

The doors opened up when they reached them, revealing another storage room in need of cleaning. Rodimus hung his shoulders.

Smokescreen took out some of the cloths and went over to the shelves. "Well, I guess we better get started."

They worked in quiet for some time. Both of them were getting tired and wanted to get the job done. However, Rodimus never could take the quiet for too long and came up with another question.

"Smokescreen?"

"Yeah?"

"When the refugees come, it can't be just Autobots; I mean, there are definitely more Decepticons coming home, too. What are you going to do with them?"

Rodimus couldn't see Smokescreen since he was on the floor, again, scrubbing it. Apparently, every room had a layer of old dust on the floor a hundred miles thick, and he couldn't use the mop on it. He could, however, hear Smokescreen stop for a moment with his work.

"I, eh, don't know really." He was talking slowly. "We haven't discussed it at any of our meetings, so I haven't heard what the others think about it."

"I bet some of them could help Bulkhead with the drones, since they have much more experience with them. Not to be mean, but they sure have problems doing things on their own, at least when it comes to building stuff." Some of the newsparks – him included – had snuck a little further away from the base then they were allowed, and had come upon some drones working. At least, they had been trying to work: one had gotten hit in the head and dragged another one down the building when he fell – neither of them were hurt badly – while two others had discussed how to use one of the machines, and four others just stood there, waiting for something to happen.

"Yeah, Bulkhead sure has his servos full with them."

"And I heard Arcee mention about we needing more energon. With more out there looking for it, we could get it much faster."

Smokescreen took a little longer to answer, but this time he didn't talk slowly. "Yes, it would be much easier that way."

Rodimus continued coming up with more ideas, and Smokescreen continued to listen.

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The meeting was going as usual, with everybody saying what they usually said: Arcee found a small energon vein, Bulkhead was making progress with the building, Wheeljack had brought back six more newsparks - meaning there were now fifty-eight young, curious Cybertronians, with only seven adults to look after them. No wonder they were getting little rest. Bumblebee had still not been able to contact any more refugee ships, but the two they knew of were making good time and would arrive soon.

Smokescreen's report began as usual; he and Rodimus were done cleaning the storage rooms that had stored spare parts and would begin with the energon room after the meeting. But when he came to the part where he usually stopped, he didn't.

"Rodimus asked what would happen when the Decepticons came back along with the other refugees."

The others looked at him, questions written all over their faces, even Ultra Magnus's.

"I said I didn't know because we hadn't talked about it, but I think we should."

"Is there really so much to talk about?" Bulkhead said, "It's not like we can do much about them when they come."

"I think you're wrong, there is a lot we can do." He swept his gaze over his little audience, hoping they couldn't see how nervous he was. Smokescreen hadn't fought in the war long enough to get any personal enemies, but his friends in front of him had. This would be much harder on them than it had been on him. "I know that they deserve nothing more than being locked away and forgotten about – nothing personal, Knockout." Said medic only shrugged, thankfully not holding it against him. " – but it would be much better if we recruited them instead."

"Recruited them?" Bumblebee said, as if the words were foreign. All optics rested on Smokescreen, and he couldn't keep himself from wondering if Optimus sometimes got nervous as well when proposing an unorthodox idea. Like telling everyone they had to evacuate Cybertron. That must have been hard.

"It was really Rodimus's idea. He mentioned a lot of things they could help us with when they came. Like finding more energon, keeping the drones in place, clearing debris from the cities – "

Wheeljack interrupted him, "The Autobots can do the exact same things, only we don't have to worry about them betraying us as soon as we look another way."

"Or, we could let them do the work we can't trust the Decepticons with." Smokescreen had thought about that as well. Not because he actually wanted to help the Decepticons, but because he had really wanted to find a reason that this was a bad idea. He hadn't. "We definitely need more bots to look after the newsparks, someone to look after the prisoners, bots who can keep the 'Cons in check, help us keep things organized." He stopped and looked at the others. They didn't look convinced at all. Not that he was surprised, but he had hoped this wouldn't take too long.

"How are we supposed to trust them after all they've done to us?" Arcee didn't show much emotion while talking, but the optics showed him how hard this was for her. "Fifty thousand vorns is a long time, Smokescreen. We can't just forget that." Smokescreen knew what she was talking about; Bumblebee had filled him in on both Tailgate and Cliffjumper.

"I'm not asking any of you to forget, but I really think we should give the 'Cons a second chance." He turned towards Bumblebee.

"Bee, when we went out to look after the Predacons, you asked Predaking to help us prove that 'more than one race could peacefully coexist on our planet.'" Bumblebee lowered his gaze; he hadn't been prepare for that. "Did you really mean it, or was it just something you said?" He didn't answer, but Smokescreen didn't need him to as long as everyone got his point.

There was a long pause after that. Smokescreen wasn't sure where to look since everyone was standing in front of him. Originally they had all stood in front of Ultra Magnus, but then moved in order to see Smokescreen better. He decided to shift his gaze between the others and it ended up on Knockout, who was standing to his left. The former Decepticon had listened closely to everything, but hadn't said anything himself. Smokescreen didn't doubt he was on his side, but it was strange he had kept his opinions to himself. He usually made sure to let everyone know how he felt about something, whether they wanted it or not.

"Knockout, may I ask what your view on the matter is?" Ultra Magnus said. Apparently he'd been thinking the same thing.

"Well," he said, completely prepared for the question, "it is no surprise that I support Smokescreen on this matter; I still have several friends amongst the Decepticons and wouldn't mind working with them again." He continued without pausing, "I do feel compelled to point out that if you hadn't 'recruited' me, you wouldn't even have a full time medic. Moreover, without Megatron's help, there is no way Rodimus would have made it out of that storm without any permanent damages to his frame."

The reminder sent every mind spinning. There was no denying the facts: Knockout had done a good job as medic, not really stirring up any trouble, and Megatron hadn't done anything wrong at all. There was a change in the room, a shift in the atmosphere, and Smokescreen could feel that one by one, the others accepted it. This was going to work, he just knew it. His thoughts started racing to the coming challenges they would face. It would take a lot of work to get some sort of system up and running, and they would have to talk to every Autobot and Decepticon that came back, but it would work. They would make it work.

"So, what now? We just send out invitations and hope the 'Cons get them? None of us has been able to contact any of them, even though we're using one of their own ships." Bulkhead put words to the first problem they would face. Smokescreen had thought about that one too.

"If he's willing – and up for it, of course – I'm sure Soundwave can take care of that without any trouble."

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 **That's it for now, do tell me what you think of it. :)**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. And thank you to GoldenEagle13 for doing Beta.**

 **Extra note: some of the ideas to this story was inspired, and some even stolen, from 'A New Beginning' by tinyrobotover. But, I have written an apology and sorted things out ;)**

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Chapter 12

Everyone's optics widened. They looked at Smokescreen, who stood in the middle of the room, questions written all over them. Arcee was the first to speak.

"You've been thinking about this a lot, haven't you?" She wasn't accusing him of doing anything wrong, but was clearly surprised by the fact he always had an answer. Soundwave couldn't blame her; he, too, was surprised at how prepared the young soldier was.

Smokescreen smiled apologetically. "I tried to stop myself, but I couldn't." He understood how hard this was for her– for everyone –but it was also clear that he believed this was the right thing to do.

"Have you thought about the fact he might kill us first chance he gets?" Wheeljack suddenly spoke up, earning everyone's attention for a klik before it turned back to Smokescreen.

"…Yes." A pause.

"And?"

"Well…" He hesitated. "Technically we can't know anything for certain, but if he agrees to help us, we just have to trust him." Simple as the Autobot himself, and foolish. Yet Soundwave could see why he would think so; there wasn't really a way for them to know the truth. The other Autobots, however, might not understand.

"Trust him?" Bulkhead joined in, skeptical as well.

"Yeah, I know it sounds stupid-"

"Stupid? Kid, you're asking us to commit suicide." In many ways, the Wrecker was right. There was a reason after all they called themselves 'Decepticons'.

"Isn't that kinda what we're doing with Knockout?" Smokescreen used both of his arms to address the doctor, who raised one of his optical ridges. Clearly, he didn't understand what Smokescreen meant.

"He helped us stop Starscream when he wanted to take over the ship. He earned our trust." Bulkhead answered him again.

"If that's how it works, one good deed after fifty thousand vorns as enemies makes everything alright, then Megatron should be our best friend. Not only did he end the Decepticons, but he also helped Rodimus." The Wrecker, nor anyone else, could say anything against that. Yet again, Soundwave was impressed with the young Autobot's devotion for this new project. He thought the others would bring him to silence in a few cycles, but instead he was winning the argument.

"Smokescreen's right." The yellow scout's voice joined them and made everyone turn to him. He hadn't said much during the argument and his voice came as a surprise to his friends. "If we really want to give the Decepticons a new chance, we have to at least try to trust them." The same devotion shone in his optics as in Smokescreens. "It's going to be difficult, but if the roles were reversed this is how we would want it." He stopped and debated with himself before continuing, his voice soft and filled with emotion, "after all, 'every sentient being possess the capacity for change'."

Everyone recognised Optimus' words. The thought of their leader brought forth many emotions, sadness and loss being the loudest ones. However, the room didn't grow tense; instead, it made everyone more relaxed. There was no doubt Optimus would have supported Smokescreen's decision; perhaps that made them feel safer in the new turn of events? Soundwave couldn't be one hundred percent sure, but that was the most likely the case.

A small smile found its way to Wheeljack's faceplates. "Huh," was all he said, though it was clear Bumblebee and Smokescreen had won again. "We did promise Optimus to keep the peace," Bulkhead continued for them both. "If this is the way to do it, then I guess we should try it out." This time, no one objected. Ultra Magnus nodded towards Bumblebee, and he walked towards the controls of the ground bridge. Soundwave couldn't stop the small hope that grew within him. He was actually getting out of this place.

He had tried everything he could think of several times, but nothing had worked. Contacting through comm. links, operating the ground bridges, send text messages, he even tried to write on the walls and floors, but nothing helped. He was getting low on energon, already used the few cubes he always carried with him, and had actually settled with down with the thought of dying in this dimension.

"So, Knockout, you think Soundwave will help us?" Almost all of theAutobots had made their way to the left side of the bridge, leaving Bumblebee alone by the controls and Ultra Magnus in the middle. Arcee was the one who asked, but everyone was listening to the answer. "When it comes to Soundwave, it's nearly impossible to predict him." Knockout thought hard before continuing, which was an unusual sight, "But he always followed Megatron's orders, no matter what. And since Megatron is, in his own way, on our side, I think we can assume Soundwave is too." The Autobots seemed satisfied with his answer, but activated their weapons anyway. Soundwave would have been surprised if they didn't.

"Okay, I have the coordinates set in and ready to go." As Bumblebee said that, he activated the ground bridge. It appeared at the exact same spot Soundwave had been standing when the human children sent him to the 'shadow zone' as the female had called it. It glowed with real colour, unlike everything else that had a dull grey shade, on the middle of the bridge and made everyone turn towards it. He walked over to it and stopped just in front of it.

The Autobots waited, hopeful. He waited, thinking. Absolutely everything would change once he stepped through. He mentally prepared himself; then, he walked through.

Ssssssssssss

Rodimus could barely contain his excitement as he stood by the door to the bridge, listening in on everything that happened in there: they had actually followed up on his idea! And they were starting right now, beginning with this Soundwave guy. Rodimus would have to find a way to meet him, though perhaps he didn't have to sneak around this time, since they were going to treat him as one of them. It would be nice, and hopefully Starscream would get well soon as well and he wouldn't have to sneak off to meet him either. They would have to keep quiet on how they met though, just in case.

He could hear some footsteps on the other side, and then the ground bridge being turned off. No one said anything for a few kliks, and then there was two words, "Soundwave – accepts." It sounded recorded, and it wasn't even the same voice. Still, it made the tension, which he could feel when he wasn't even in there, disappear. The sound of several transformations came along with it: their weapons, he guessed.

"Thank you Soundwave, and welcome back." There was a small pause. Ultra Magnus sounded a bit weird, as if he didn't know what to say. "As you already know, we are in need of your expertise with communication. Your new job will be to contact every Cybertrionan ship you can find in order to guide them home. And of course, fill them in on all the changes." This time the pause was natural, the part of the conversation when the other person got the chance to say something. Soundwave, however, didn't say anything. Ultra Magnus continued on like he normally would, "Though, it would most likely be best if I talked with the Autobots, while you and perhaps Knockout talked with the Decepticons."

Again, silence. Soundwave must be a very quiet mech. Ultra Magnus continued without him saying a word, "And in return, you will be pardoned for all your actions during the war." Magnus put extra pressure on the word 'will' and 'all', as if to mark the beginning of this new project of theirs. Rodimus smiled; it was his idea and they were going to use it to repair Cybertron. He was very, very happy.

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The two moons reflected the sun's light upon Cybertron, and on this night, it made it very clear how much needed to be fixed. There was a time he would have enjoyed this; a time when the silver-like colour on the planet's surface would sooth his aching processor and bring forth long discussions with Orion. Very long ones.

Megatron smiled as he remembered one about Cybertron's history. They had talked about spacebridges, wars and long forgotten Primes. It had lasted the entire night and Orion had arrived late at work due to little recharge. Later, Orion said he had received about a dozen comm. calls from his co workers, wondering if he was injured or ill. Even Alpha Trion had shown concern. Megatron used this as an excuse to tease Orion, telling him he was far too dutiful and needed more excitement.

Megatron moved his optics from the broken buildings around him and looked to the horizon in the direction of the Nemesis. It wasn't next to the Well anymore, but closer to what had previously been Kalis. He had visited it two orbital cycles ago, but he didn't know why. He just felt it was time to look on their progress. Though it wasn't an impressive sight or anything like the glorious buildings the golden age had brought forth, it was good to finally see something new on their broken home. However, what he really had enjoyed on his little visit was watching the newsparks play outside of the nemesis.

It was like nothing he had ever seen before. Small yet energetic mechs and femmes running around without a care in the world. After some cycles, they organized a contest of some sort; several teams against each other, racing back and forth a distance. It was a relaxing sight and for a little moment, he had actually forgotten about the war.

And even though the planet was still in ruins and he saw it all the time, the memory stayed with him. Megatron smiled again. If those energetic newsparks were Cybertron's future, it certainly wouldn't be dull.

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 **please tell me what you think, all kinds of reviews are allowed.**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello! Sorry for the long wait, I just really wanted to get chapter 13 and 14 out at the same time. So here they are, an early christmas gift :)**

 **note: I don't consider the games WFC and FOC or the novels Transformers Exodus; Exiles; Retribution as prequels to TFP. In both the games and the novels (at least the first one) Dark Energon plays a big part, however in the first episodes in the show, Ratchet says dark energon is so rare it's considered nonexistent. So yeah, I don't see how they can be in the same universe. (they are amazing though and I will most likely make a few references to them during the story.)**

 **I just wanted you to know since you will take a little look into Starscreams past during these chapters.**

 **Thank you very much GoldenEagle13 for doing beta on both chapters :)**

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The only soundsin the medbay were the machines helping him heal. The only movements were the screens on his monitors and his chest rising and sinking as his ventilation system did its job. Starscream didn't even move his optics, just kept staring at the same spot on the dark ceiling. His faceplate was stern and his servos clenched, but he didn't move.

His thoughts, however, were moving at the speed of light. He hadn't been able to relax since Knockout left;his thoughts kept going back to the fact thathe mightnever fly again.

He cursed the Predacons for tearing his wing off, he cursed Shockwave for cloning them, and he cursed Megatron for suddenly ending the war, which had resulted in him being alone with the beasts in the first place. He also cursed Knockout and Ratchet for not fixing him properly, along with the Autobots for not finding him sooner. Still, in the end, he cursed himself the most.

Not because he blamed himself for what happened, but because no matter what he did or what he wanted, 'life' had other plans. It had always been like that, and the few times he actually gotten what he wanted, he would lose it again. Especially when it was something, or someone, he cared about. Not even his role as a Decepticon mattered anymore, other than creating a distance between him and everyone around him. Not that he wanted to befriend any of the Autobots;it was just ironic that after so many vorns of serving Megatron and his cause, this was all he was getting back.

The door hissed open and stopped his train of thoughts. He moved his head slightly and looked towards the door,where a beaming Rodimus entered. Starscream corrected himself: his former status hadn't created a distance between him and Rodimus; on the contrary,it was the main reason they met, but he wasn't quite sure that was a good thing.

"Hi,Starscream!" Rodimus came to his right side and placed his servos behind his back, leaning back and forth on his rather big pedes. He was obviously working hard to contain whatever made him so happy.

"Hello." Starscream tried to not sound too depressed. He didn't feel like telling Rodimus about his wing.

"I have some news about the Autobots." Starscream indicated him to continue, wondering whether it would be important or not. "They are going to recruit the Decepticons to help them rebuild Cybertron."

By the look on Rodimus' faceplate, his optics studyinghim closely, he obviously expected Starscream to react with some big show of emotions.

"Recruit them?"

Rodimus nodded a bit too fast, as if he had too much energy inside of him. "They want to give you a second chance, and if you take it, they won't punish you for the stuff you did during the war."

Starscream raised his optical ridges. "Why on Cybertron would they do that?" It didn't make any sense. Sure, they were soft, but this was something completely different. The loss of their leader must have done damage to their processors or something.

"There's a lot of reasons, but mainly it's just better for everyone if we work together when rebuilding Cybertron." Rodimus answered, which did sound like something the Autobots would say. "Plus it's only fair. You all fought for a better Cybertron; some of you just lost your way at some point." The last comment was unexpected. Starscream highly doubted the Autobots thought so and wondered where Rodimus got it. He then remembered the story Megatron told him. Perhaps Rodimus thought it was the same for all the Decepticons…that they were all blinded by anger?

This newspark, who was only a few orbital cycles old, thought he had them all figured out – that all of the Decepticons fought simply due to 'blinding anger'. Sure, some of the battles and some of the soldiers, but an entire war? It was preposterous and utterly ridiculous! Why, Megatron would—

…

Megatron– the leader of the Decepticons, the one they had all followed, even Starscream himself – had admitted to being blind. If that was the truth, if he had been blind all this time, what did that say about all of those who had followed him...? What did that say about him, Starscream? Could it be that he was blind too?

NO! It was impossible. Sure, he'd done some mistakes because of the war, but he'd always known what the goal was… Hadn't he?

…

He joined with Megatron because he was tired of the caste system. He wanted to be free to control his own life and here was his one chance to do so. However, the war hadn't really lasted too long before it changed and he simply fought against the Autobots. He hadn't cared, hadn't even noticed, how his once noble goal had changed from freeing Cybertron, to destroying Autobots and eventually becoming the leader of the Decepticons. But it didn't mean he was blind! It just meant he… lost his way? Thinking it was better than being blind, Starscream went for that.

"Are you okay, Starscream?" He turned his head and met the concerned optics of Rodimus. How long had he been thinking? Apparently too long. "Yes, yes. I was just thinking." Rodimus didn't seem convinced, looking hard into his optics, but let it be anyway. Instead, he changed the subject.

"You were an energon seeker before the war, right?"

"Yes, why?"

"Well, maybe you could do that again, once you've gotten better. They really need some help finding energon."

"No." Starscream answered simply, but hard. How he hated that job! He never wanted it; the guilds had just given it to him. 'Energon seeker,' they said, and there went all of his wishes to study and learn about the universe. Sure, finding energon was important and all that, but who got the energon? Not him and not his caste. The ironic thing was that he was good at it. After a few lessons from his superiors, he knew just as much as they did. A few missions on his own and he knew even more than they did. He quickly received a position as leader for a squadron, and later he was leading several squadrons. He never stopped hating the job, but learned to live with it. Moreover, even if he wanted the job it would do him little good if his wing didn't heal…

"Why not?"

"I don't want that job again, I never liked it."

Rodmus tilted his helm to the side. "Then what do you want to do?"

Starscream used all of his willpower to not growl back at him. He wanted to heal, he wanted to fly far away and never return and he wanted to kill someone, preferably the Predacons. But, since he didn't feel like explaining any of that to Rodimus, he just answered simply. "Most of all, I want to get out of this medbay." He really hated this room. He had spent far too much time in here.

There was a long, wonderful silence. He wondered for a moment if Rodimus might have noticed his bad mood and was scared of doing anything wrong, but it didn't really matter to him. He enjoyed the silence for a little longer before it was broken again.

"I can help you out to the roof if you want to."

He quickly looked back over at Rodimus.

"The elevator isn't that far away, and you can lean on me for support. None of the others are awake now, so we don't have to hurry either." In other words, no reason to stay inside. Except for the fact that he was too weak; just leaning on his elbows had taken a lot of energy. He would have to lean on Rodimus for more than just support. But, thinking about the clear and fresh air outside the ship and the wind gently stroking his sensors, he decided it would be worth it.

He started to disconnect the tubes from his chassis and left them dangling from the roof. Slowly and carefully, he stepped down from the berth, putting most of his weight on his left pede while using the berth as a support. Rodimus moved closer to him on his right side and let him put his servo on his shoulder. "It's okay, Starscream, just lean on me." Rodimus was completely calm and put one servo beneath his wings while the other one closed around his wrist to make sure it stayed on the shoulder.

After a few kliks, Starscream tried to take a step. He moved his right pede– which was still strapped to help it heal faster – a little bit forward before completely losing his balance. Not only was it painful, but also it was as if his limbs refused to move. He could feel his chassis fall to the side, only to then land on Rodimus. He expected the small newspark, who was no taller than Arcee, to buckle under the extra weight, but it didn't happen. Starscream stood hunched over Rodimus, his arm now wrapped around his shoulders and Rodimus's servo still around his wrist.

"You okay, Starscream?" Rodimus lifted his helm to look at him, but it was hard since their helms were right on top of each other and nearly touching.

"I'm fine…just need a few kliks to…find my balance."

Rodimus was patient and didn't seem to mind the awkward way they were standing. After a full cycle, Starscream tried again. He straightened up a bit, but kept his arm wrapped around Rodimus's shoulders and put almost all of his weight on him. Right pede in front of the other, he shifted his weight to it. Rodimus took a small step himself to keep his balance. When all of his weight rested either on Rodimus or on his bad pede, he moved the good one forward. He almost fell again, but Rodimus held him up.

"That's one step, Starscream," Rodimus said a little cheerfully. "A few more and we have this under control." Starscream groaned at the attempt to cheer him up, but didn't say anything. Every joint in his very being complained and went against his movements, his ventilation system was working harder than it should to keep his temperature normal, and he felt miserable. Yet, he continued this undignified form for walking. He was not going to turn around and give up, even if this would slow down his healing process.

He had to stop after each step to rest, but Rodimus didn't complain and gave him the time he needed. The newspark didn't have any problems keeping them both standing and seemed to know when to move and when to stay still. By the time they made it to the door, they 'had it under control', as Rodimus predicted.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Rodimus felt a little bad for making Starscream walk with his injuries, but he knew Starscream needed to get out of the medbay. Something was bothering him and making him sad, but Rodimus could tell he didn't want to share it, so he would try not to pry. At least not yet.

In the beginning, Starscream had troubles with the walking, but he quickly figured it out and they made good progress. Too slow for Rodimus's taste, and Blurr would have died going at this speed, but considering Starscream's injuries this was more than enough. They didn't say anything while walking, it would most likely be best if they focused on one thing at the time in the position they were currently in.

In the elevator Rodimus asked if Starscream felt okay, and got a grumbling, "yes, I'm fine" from him. Then they were quiet again. He could feel Starscream being in better mood though, especially when they could see the door between them and the roof. He seemed somehow lighter, and moved a little bit faster.

Finally, they reached the door and it opened for them. There was a little wind coming through and the moons were shining bright. Starscream continued walking without any stopping this time – which was slightly unnerving – until they were fully outside. There were stars filling the dark sky and the two moons casting a silver glow to everything.

Rodimus looked around and wondered where Starscream could sit down and rest. The best would be at the wall to support his back, but then the pointy things on the side of the ship would block most of the view. They could also sit at the edge, but Rodimus was scared Starscream would fall down now that he was so tired. After debating back and forth a cycle – Starscream not making any movements during that time, probably just enjoying being outside again – Rodimus decided safety would be most important.

He led Starscream to the wall to their right, which was also closest to the moons, and carefully helped him sit down. After making sure he sat comfortably, Rodimus joined him.

"There, finally outside."

"Finally," Starscream said in a tired voice, but it was lighter than the one he used inside the medbay. They sat in silence for a cycle or so before Rodimus took time to look around. The first thing he noticed was the way the moons looked: Half of them were gone.

"What happened to the moons?"

Starscream looked at them first before looking at him weirdly. "What do you mean?"

"When I was created they were bigger, now half of them are gone."

Starscream raised an optical ridge. "Cybertron is blocking some of the light from the sun, and the black part on the moons is Cybertron's shadow."

"Why wasn't it there before?"

"Because Cybertron wasn't blocking the light from the sun before." Sarcasm. Rodimus may not have been old, but he knew that language rather well. "The moons are orbiting around Cybertron, Cybertron is orbiting around the sun and rotating around itself. When the moons reach a certain point, some of the light from the sun is blocked." Starscream used his servos while talking, one of the digits going around another and then stopping about halfway. "It's basic knowledge; why haven't you learned that already?"

Rodimus shrugged. "I don't know, mostly the Autobots have been focusing on teaching us Cybertron's history, basic mechanics and some medical stuff." He looked up at the stars shining above them. "Maybe they don't know enough about that kind of stuff and want someone who does to teach us about it."

"Hm, perhaps." Slowly, Starscream looked up as well and Rodimus swore he could hear the gears in his neck protest to the movement. For a klik he imagined Starscream's helm snapping off from his shoulder and rolling away, but chased the picture away quickly. He just hasn't moved in a while, he reasoned.

Suddenly – and surprisingly, since usually Rodimus started the conversations – Starscream spoke. "They have changed..."

Rodimus turned to look at him. "What?"

Starscream continued to look upwards while answering. "The stars, or rather the constellations, have changed. Not that I'm surprised, the universe is always changing, I merely haven't have time to notice before." Starscream turned and met Rodimus's optics. "…You don't understand what I'm talking about, do you?"

Rodimus shook his helm. "I know what stars are-" He stopped for a moment before correcting himself, "okay, I know that the lights up there are called stars, but I don't know what constellations are."

Starscream thought for a few moments, turning his helm away and looking towards the horizon, before he started to draw on the floor with his long digits. He pressed his digits down to make small holes in the ground until there were eight of them, and then started to draw lines from one hole to the other.

"Constellations are a group of stars that form some sort of picture." Starscream gestured to the holes in his drawing. The lines he had drawn between them formed a picture of a mech. "However, this star," he pointed to the hole that made the mechs' left shoulder, "is gone. Stars don't live forever and will, with time, die, which is what happened to this one."

Rodimus looked up in an attempt to find the picture, but wasn't quite sure if that was possible; all the stars looked alike.

As if reading his mind, Starscream gave him a few instructions, "Look straight up and imagine the helm pointing in the direction of the moons." Rodimus did as he was told. It was hard, but eventually he saw something that could be the mech drawn on the ground, "I think I found it…"

"Remember that one of the stars is gone."

"Yeah, it's got to be that one." Rodimus felt a little proud that he now could see a picture in the stars; he wouldn't have thought up something like that himself.

Then they turned silent again, which seemed to happen a lot around Rodimus. His thoughts raced in different directions, many questions forming in his processor, while Starscream just seemed to relax. It was nice to see him like that, especially after seeing his mood in the medbay. He wondered what bothered him. Rodimus cast a glance towards Starscream, trying to see if it would be a good time to ask him now. After some time spent asking the autobots, he'd learned that there were good times to ask questions and bad times. It all depended on the mood, so he had to read them to find out. Some of them were easy to read, like Smokescreen and Bulkhead, while others were hard, like Ultra Magnus and Arcee. Starscream was difficult. Sometimes he showed dozens of emotions; other times, just one or two.

"Why are you staring at me?"

Rodimus exited his train of thought and met Starscream's sceptical optics. He must have forgotten to look away when he 'glanced' over at him. Smooth, he thought, mentally slapping himself for getting lost in thought, again. He needed to work on that later.

"I was just thinking."

"Clearly," Starscream said, waiting for a more detailed explanation. Rodimus debated if he should tell him the truth. Starscream didn't seem to be in the right mood.

"I was just wondering what bothered you earlier, in the medbay." As soon as Rodimus finished the sentence, Starscream put up a sort of wall that hid some of his emotions. It was weird; Rodimus hadn't seen anyone do that before and kept wondering why he did it.

"I'm not going to pry! You don't want to talk about it, and I know I can't make you do something you don't want to." Starscream seemed pleased with the last comment. The previous night Rodimus found out Starscream liked compliments, so he decided to use that in his favour right now.

"I just wanted you to know that if you at some point changed your mind, you can tell me. I promise I won't tell anyone else." He tried to look as trustworthy and honest as possible, though he wasn't sure if he succeeded. Starscream did seem a bit taken back, however.

"I…will keep that in mind." He sounded and looked honest, so Rodimus felt he had succeeded. A few kliks went by with none of them doing anything, other than breaking optic contact, before Rodimus decided it was best to change the subject. The conversation had made them both feel uneasy.

"I forgot to tell you, as soon as the Autobots decided to recruit the Decepticons, they brought in a guy called Soundwave." Starscream looked back at him again.

"Soundwave?" It sounded like he was disgusted, displeased, scared and intrigued at the same time.

"Yeah. I didn't see him, but I heard he accepted the offer and will help them contact the rest of the Autobots and Decepticons." Rodimus stopped and thought for a short moment, "Do you know what's up with his voice? It was really weird."

Starscream didn't answer at once. He was thinking hard about something and his optics were distant. "Soundwave never really talks, he uses recording to talk for him. I haven't heard his real voice since the very beginning of the war. His faceplate is hidden behind a visor, too; he's had that one on since before I met him and I don't know what he really looks like."

"Why would he hide his faceplate?" That was even weirder than the recording thing.

"I don't know, never cared enough to ask and I doubt he would he would have told me if I did." Now he looked mainly disgusted.

"Why?"

"We never had a good…relationship. You could say we were both striving for Megatron's attention. And he never trusted me, most likely because my line of work provided power to the government." Starscream had a mix between a sneer and a growl on his faceplate. It was both weird and interesting that he was able to do it without breaking.

Suddenly Starscream changed his expression to a 'know-it-all' look. "Don't be surprised if the Autobots confront you about seeing me early in the morning."

Rodimus was suddenly alarmed – it was impossible for them to know about that. "Why? Are you going to tell them?" He had made a promise; he wouldn't break it, would he?

"No, but Soundwave will do it without a doubt." Rodimus didn't understand what he meant, but before he could ask, Starscream continued, "He always kept tabs on everyone aboard the ship, so I doubt he will stop now. And again, he never trusted me."

Rodimus looked down at the ground: this was just great. He had already gotten in trouble once, now this? "Do you think there is any way for us to convince him to not tell them?" There had to be, he really didn't want any more boring punishments.

"No." Starscream didn't even think about it.

"I am going to be in so much trouble. I was late for class today and Magnus made clean up seven storage rooms for it! What will he do when he finds out about this?"

"You knew what would happened if they found out." There was a hint of amusement in his voice. He looked directly at Starscream and got the conformation he needed: Starscream was smiling! He found this funny! Rodimus tried to send him an angry look, but he wasn't sure it worked; Starscream just smiled wider – or was it turning into a grin?

"Yeah, but it's really their fault: if they had just answered my questions, I wouldn't have broken the rules."

Still grinning, Starscream answered, "Perhaps, but I doubt they will see it that way. However, I would like to see their reaction to that argument."

The confusion on their faceplates would be a nice sight. Perhaps like how they reacted when he first asked about Megatron: shock and surprise with a hint of 'I don't understand'. Thinking back at it now, it was actually funny.

However, Rodimus soon found out that it was because none of them liked Megatron. They didn't seem to like Starscream either. Again, Rodimus thought about the punishment. Would they deny him any more time with Starscream? Despite their decision to give the Decepticons a new chance, he knew they didn't trust them. In addition, they probably thought Starscream would hurt him at some point. He wasn't sure what he would do if he lost another friend.

He looked up at the stars. Starscream said there were several constellations, right? Perhaps he could drag out the night by asking many questions so they could spend more time together. He looked over at Starscream. He wasn't grinning anymore, but a small smile rested on his faceplate. He was still relaxed and didn't seem very tired. Knowing Starscream, he wouldn't mind talking more, so Rodimus could go with that plan. He thought a little about the eventual consequences, like recharging too long again, but decided it was worth it. If he really was going to get an unfair punishment tomorrow, perhaps even lose another friend, he would at least have some good memories to look back on.

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 **That's it for now, feel free to tell me what you think.**

 **Knowing me, I doubt I'll get next chapter up before both Christmas and New Years eve. So, I hope you all have a very good Christmas, God bless you all and thank you for your support 3**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hello everyone, and happy newyear! I hope you all had a good time :)**

 **As this chapter has not been beta'ed, I apologise for all of the mistakes that you will find and ask you to tell me in a review so I can correct it.**

 **Transformers belongs to Hasbro.**

Chapter 15

The room was silent for a few kliks after Soundwave stopped the video. It was a short version of the events during the night involving Rodimus and Starscream, often cut by one of Knockouts complaints about ruining all of his hard work. Ultra Magnus waited for the rest of the crew to react, not doubting he would get one, while thinking about it himself. Smokescreen said it was Rodimus ideas to recruit the Decepticons and he now had no doubt that his relationship with Starscream had something to do with it.

Wheeljack was the first to break the silence. He was leaning against one of the consoles with Bulkhead to his right. "I think the worst part is that I'm not really surprised," he shook his helm a little, "I mean, after all of those questions he asked us, and the fact he has a very big interest in the war and the 'cons, it's not really a shock he found out about Screamer." The rest of them nodded with him, agreeing that it was bound to happen at some point.

"Yeah, I only wonder how and when. It's not that long ago we brought Starscream back here." Bulkhead inquired. "We never mentioned him around the newsparks, and most of the time they want to be outside and run around the city." Everyone thought for a moment before Bumblebee spoke. He was standing with his back to the door and Arcee to his right, "I remember he was asking me a lot of questions right before you called for a groundbridge Bulkhead. Rodimus being Rodimus, I think he heard enough to understand something was going on and then decided to figure out more on his own." Again, they all nodded.

It was silent for another few kliks before a frustrated voice spoke up, "Well, if we are done here, I would like to visit my _patient_ ," Knockout said the last word with much distaste and malice, making everyone in the room almost feeling sorry for Starscream. Almost. "And, should you hear some loud voices and protests coming from the medbay, don't bother coming in." With that, he turned on his heel and started to walk towards the door. No one was going to protest and tell him that as an Autobot, he couldn't torture his patients. He would find a way to punish Starscream without breaking that rule directly. And, no one really dared, despite Knockout being a former enemy. They had seen, and experienced, Ratchets anger. They knew that sometimes a medic just needed to fume a little, which was why Ultra Magnus proceeded carefully.

"Knockout, I would like to question both Starscream and Rodimus at the same time about this matter." Knockout stopped to look back at him, but didn't object. A good sign. "When do you think it would be a good time to come?"

A klik went by before he answered, "Ten cycles." Then he continued to walk. No one spoke again before he was out and the door closed.

"Well, this will be an interesting orbital cycle." Smokescreen said from his corner of the room. "Anything else we should know about before starting with our work?" He was smiling. In fact, he'd been smiling from the moment the video started and revealed Rodimus sneaking around the ship.

"Why are you so happy? I don't really think this count as a good thing." Arcee raised one of her optical ridges, asking the same question Ultra Magnus was about to ask.

"You mean you can't see it?" It wasn't really a question, but Smokescreen was using it to make a point. They all listened.

"See what? That tonight would have been a perfect opportunity for Starscream to hurt Rodimus?"

Smokescreen held up one of his servos, "How long has Rodimus been online, five orbital cycles?" He cast a glance around and then continued when no one objected, "And in that timeline he has met Megatron and chosen a name all on his own," This part was very memorable. No one had chosen a name to any of the newsparks, at least not on purpose, but they all received many questions about choosing a name and some even wanted them to do it. When Rodimus told them he chose the name because he liked it, without any help from Megatron, they were all having trouble believing him. "He has asked questions about the war he shouldn't have the knowledge to understand." Not only had he been asking about Megatron, even though half of them involved him, but also about their reason to join the Autobots and what had motivated them to continue fighting to the end. "He found out about Starscream, met him and took him out on a walk. On top of that, he came up with the idea that if we recruited the 'cons, we would have a lot more help rebuilding Cybertron." If possible, his smile grew even wider, parting his faceplate in two. "I think, whoever this newspark turns out to be, he is a very important little mech."

Silence again filled the room as they thought about Smokescreens speech. Ultra Magnus understood two things: One: he would have to promote Smokecreen for his stunning talents with words. Perhaps he could use him when convincing the rest of the Autotbot army that recruiting the Decepticons was a good idea. Two: Rodimus would cause him a lot more trouble.

Ssssssssssssssssssss

At any other time. Starscream would have been very mad at Knockout for waking him up. He'd gotten four groons of recharge when suddenly Knockout came bursting in the room and started ranting. After about a cycle, he understood Knockout had found out about his trip during the night. Now he was threatening to literally wield him to the berth, and by the look in his optics, Starscream didn't think it was just a threat.

However, it hadn't been a normal recharge. For the first time in vorns, he'd been having a dream. It wasn't unusual for Cybertronians to have dreams, but Starscream usually tried to avoid that by overriding the part of his processor that brought forth dreams during recharge. As far as he knew, everyone did that. Dreams often included something you thought about during your time awake, which would most likely be the war, and he had enough of that while being awake. So, he had made it a habit to avoid that. Sometimes he forgot, mostly because he was too tired, but that rarely happened. Last night was one of those occasions.

This dream was one he didn't want to think about, which was why he wasn't really mad a Knockout. He pretended, of course, but he was actually grateful. It was a memory he thought he had pushed so far back in his processor that he wouldn't think about it ever again. He hadn't been thinking about it for vorns, and he didn't understand why it would suddenly reappear. He offlined his optics while trying to push it back where it belonged, but then the colours became clear as day: one a matt purple, not as dark as the Nemesis, and the second blue like the sky. Those two always came together, and that annoyed him to no end, just like the mechs themselves had done.

Scrap. He was thinking about it.

"Are you even listening to me?"

Starscream onlined his optics and growled at Knockout while he mentally thanked Primus for the distraction. He just had to concentrate on Knockout.

"Fine, I'm listening!" Knockout was holding a scanner in his servo, looking for any injuries that might have taken place. It beeped when he ran it over his torso and right pede.

"I knew it." Suddenly Knockout ripped his clamp off his pede and started examining it. He might as well have ripped off his pede, Starscream wouldn't have felt the difference. He cursed loudly, making sure Knockout's name was in there. Still, better than the memory.

"What is wrong with you?! I thought you were trying to fix me, not injure me!"

Knockout didn't stop his examination to look at him, but his voice carried all the emotion needed, "If you hadn't gone up an ruined all my hard work, that wouldn't have hurt!

"Your work! As if you could have done any of this without the help of the Autobot medic!" Knockout met his optics.

"How dare you question my expertise! If it wasn't for me you would have-." Suddenly he stopped, "How did you know Ratchet was here?"

"Rodimus told me." No reason to hide the truth anymore. Ultra Magnus was probably on his way to question him now anyway.

"How did he know? Ratchet was here only for the operation and left as soon as we finished. He never met any of the newsparks."

Starscream rolled his optics. "Have you met Rodimus? He has a curiosity that would have driven Optimus mad." At the mention of the Primes name, Knockout's optics grew a little softer. Clearly, he was spending too much time with the Autobots and was turning into one of them. To think this was once a Decepticon was an embarrassment. "He wanted to see me and decided that early on the orbital cycle would be the best time. However, you were here so he decided to listen in by the door."

Knockout thought for a moment and then turned back to examining him and continued ranting. He turned and bent his pede, resulting in many curses involving Knockouts creation and what he was made of, before moving on to his torso. That didn't go any better and since Knockout had turned on the restraints, Starscream couldn't scratch his finish or rip out his optics.

Starscream continued to curse and argue with Knockout, who again just continued telling Starscream how foolish and idiotic he was. The memory was already disappearing and Starscream could pretend he hadn't had that dream. Soon, everything would be back to normal. Or, at least as normal as it could get.

Sssssssssssssssssssss

Rodimus walked in front of the two mechs with a sour expression. Strangely, he hadn't been recharging for longer than normal and was awake and ready when Ultra Magnus came. He figured that fighting against him would just make his punishment bigger and just followed Ultra Magnus out the door. Of course, his friends wondered what was going on, but Ultra Magnus broke in before he could answer them. They would know later.

After turning a few corners, a dark blue mech with no faceplate joined them. This had to be Soundwave, and if Rodimus weren't so disappointed, he would have been asking him questions about his voice, faceplate and what he did during the war. Instead he just walked. No one said anything and it was just quiet. The only sounds were that annoying echo. He wanted to ask about it and considering how echo was a sound and Soundwave most likely knew a lot about it, he would have gotten an informative answer. But then he might appear to like Soundwave, and right now, he really didn't.

Why did he have to tell on them anyway? They weren't really breaking any rules: no one said it was illegal for the newsparks to visit Starscream, or that Starscream had to stay in the medbay. Soundwave didn't trust Starscream, but was that the only reason?

"Why did you tell them, Soundwave?" Scrap, he sounded more hurt than mad.

"Starscream-is not-trustworthy." He answered using some recordings.

That wasn't entirely true, Rodimus was sure he could trust him. Still, he decided to go on. "So? It's not like he could have hurt me or anything. Last night he could barely walk, and I bet that if I had put him down somewhere without any back support he would have fallen right on his faceplate."

He could see the medbay now. He walked a little slower to make sure Soundwave answered him. "Starscream-much more-than meets the optics."

Rodimus didn't get it. More than meets the optics? Sadly, they reached the medbay and he had to wait for later to get his answer.

Knockout was waiting inside by the monitor and Starscream was resting on his berth. There was a tense atmosphere, Rodimus figured it was because Knockout was mad at Starscream for walking when he should have been resting… Which meant he might be mad at him too.

Rodimus met Knockouts optics for one klik, and then quickly turned to look at Starscream instead. And here he thought Knockout was a cool mech.

"Hey Starscream." He seemed a little tired, and his clamp on his pede was gone.

"Hello Rodimus."

Rodimus turned his head to look at Soundwave and then back again to Starscream. "You were right about Soundwave."

Starscream then turned as well and looked directly at Soundwave. There was something about the way his turned and the way his optics moved that made Rodimus feel as if this had happened before. Not with him, but between Starscream and Soundwave.

"Of course I was."

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 **As always, feel free to leave a review.**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hello again and welcome back :) I hope you all had a good time doing whatever you were doing, and that those of you who go to school don't have too much to do. I know some teachers don't really believe we students have a privat life.**

 **Thank you again to all who review and follow my story, it's good to see that people enjoy it :)**

 **Now, this is unbetaed, so don't be scared of the mistakes you will find, but tell me instead so I can fix it. This chapter, along with a few more, will be what I call 'filler' chapters. (not really 100% true chapters, but necessary to the story so you understand what is going on)**

 **Transformers belongs to Hasbro.**

Chapter 16

For a long time, there had been rumors among the Autobots that Soundwave and Starscream were rivals when it came to Megatron's attention. Ultra Magnus never thought it was that easy to explain and that there was much more to it than that. Now, after watching Starscream and Soundwave being in the same room, he knew he'd been right.

He never could imagine Soundwave as one who would fight to get someone's attention, and he also knew Soundwave didn't have to. He had remained 100% loyal to Megatron throughout the entire war and thus always been on Megatron's good side. No, Ultra Magnus thought it was more about Starscream not getting the attention he wanted, and felt he deserved, and saw Soundwave as a hinder. Of course, he wasn't stupid enough to kill Soundwave who, despite taking a lot of attention, was an important asset to the Decepticons. Soundwave on the other hand knew Starscream wasn't trustworthy and therefore always kept a record on everything Starscream did. Ultra Magnus guessed they both knew perfectly well what the other thought of them and that was why there was a very vibrant tension between them.

It was interesting though, how none of them spoke a word to each other with their vocals, but still managed to have some sort of conversation. Of course, Ultra Magnus had seen that many times during the war, but in all those cases, all of the participants had at least half of their facial features visible. Soundwave had none and still Starscream seemed to have no problems. That may be because they had worked together for so long, but still. It was something he would remember.

Before leaving the medbay, after questions were asked and answers given, Rodimus blaming him and the Autobtos, he got a surprise. He had given the order that Starscream would remain in the medbay for now, without any visitors to Rodimus disappointment, when Rodimus said, "Aren't you going to ask him?"

"Ask him what?" he answered. Now he thought it was obvious and still didn't understand why he had to be reminded of it.

"Last orbital cycle you decided you would give every Decepticon a new chance. Aren't you going to ask Starscream if he will take it?"

At first he couldn't understand why he hadn't remembered that himself. If Optimus were here, he would have asked before the questions, to show that he valued Starscream as a Cybertronian. Optimus would never have forgotten something as important as that, but Ultra Magnus did.

He quickly shook of his shock though and turned to Starscream. He apologized for not asking sooner, and then repeated what they'd agreed on at the meeting. Starscream had had most likely heard this from Rodimus, but he wanted to repeat it just to make sure Starscream knew everything he needed to know, both the benefits and the rules.

Starscream had been surprised as well. Whether by Rodimus interaction or by Ultra Magnus' question, he didn't know. To his surprise, Starscream took his time answering. His optics showed he was thinking hard and debating with himself. Then he answered short: "I agree with your terms." He had expected some sort of quarrel or debate, but nothing happened.

Ultra Magnus then nodded, looked at Knockout who also nodded, and then walked out with Rodimus and Soundwave on tow. Rodimus was going to spend his orbital cycle cleaning equipment with Wheeljack while the other newsparks had time off from the studies. Then, next orbital cycle, he was going to clean the top deck of the nemesis after class. He looked back at the newspark. One would think he would be sulking for his punishments, but he was in fact smiling.

"You're glad that Starscream accepted?" He asked.

Rodimus looked up to meet his optics. "Of course," he walked a little faster to reach his side, "Aren't you?"

Ultra Magnus thought about it. Was he glad? From the story of the last time Starscream wanted to join the Autobots, he knew he couldn't trust him fully. He was dangerous when he wanted to be and you never knew when that could happen. However, Starscream was also very productive. One does not survive as Megatron's second in command for so long without actually being able to do a good job. If that productivity could be used to their advantage… Then there was the problems with his loyalty. Starscream wasn't loyal to anyone except himself. At least, that was what everyone thought. Starscream had tried to kill Megatron more than once, and his work didn't always contribute so much to the Decepticon cause as to himself. However, he came back to Megatron after spending some time as a neutral. The question was: was that a sign of loyalty, or another attempt to take over the Decepticons?

"I am glad he won't work against us, we need all the help we can get to rebuild Cybertron." He knew that didn't answer the question, but for now it would have to do. Rodimus either didn't notice or he understood that was the best he would get for now. Ultra Magnus had a feeling it was the latter.

"Sir?" Rodimus asked, suddenly his expression turned serious.

"Yes?"

"I don't know if you were there, but when Ratchet and Knockout worked on Starscream the first time, some of the Autobots were at the bridge talking. Bulkhead mentioned that perhaps Megatron would want to know about it, Starscream being hurt I mean. Now that Soundwave is here too and that you want to recruit the Decepticons, I think he might be right." Ultra Magnus turned his helm to meet Rodimus' optics. "You also said that Soundwave and Knockout would talk to the Decepticons about joining you, but wouldn't it be even better if Megatron did it instead of Knockout? He was their leader after all."

Ultra Magnus wasn't sure if Rodimus really wanted to help, or if he just wanted to see Megatron again. His idea, however, was good. If they truly wanted to convince the Deceptions that working together was the best course of action, they needed someone the Deceptions trusted and believed in. He looked back at Soundwave to see if he had something to ad, but he only nodded. He most likely knew what Ultra Magnus was thinking.

"Perhaps that would be better. I will contact him personally and ask if he will help us." He looked directly at Rodimus' smiling faceplate, "That does not mean you escape your punishments. No matter Megatron's answer, you will do your assigned chores." The smile disappeared and a slow "yes, sir." came instead.

As they continued to walk, Ultra Magnus thought for a moment, debating back and forth, and then decided it wouldn't hurt to grant Rodimus one little wish. He had contributed a lot to their cause after all.

"If Megatron does agree to work with us, I will let him know you wish to see him and let him visit you for a short time-"The smile was back and he was ceartain that the optics glowed brighter, but Ultra Magnus continued without any pause. He had to teach Rodimus that he had to follow the rules. "- _If_ you perform your chores without causing any problems."

"Okay, I will! Thank you sir!" Rodimus was at that moment the very definition of happiness. Ultra Magnus smiled at the sight. He would have to be careful with what wishes Rodimus got though, especially when it came to the Decepticons.

They arrived at a room filled with all kinds of equipment, from weapons to cleaning utensils, and Wheeljack sitting on a chair with his pedes resting on a table. He was playing music from his stereo and it took him some kliks to notice them by the door. When he did, he turned off the music and stood up to meet them. Ultra Magnus told him shortly about the situation and that Rodimus would work with him for the rest of the orbital cycle.

"So, you're gonna be my assistant?" Wheeljack asked the eager newspark.

"Yes, sir." Rodimus stood at attention, the way Ultra Magnus taught the newsparks to greet him before class, and smiled as if this was going to be the best time he ever had.

"And you're ready to do some work?" He smiled back at the display, it wasn't often someone was eager to start their punishment.

"Just tell me what to do and I'll do it!"

Wheeljack then told him to move some boxes from the corner before turning to Ultra Magnus again, "I think we're going to be fine here. And don't worry, I'll make sure he doesn't have any energy to stay up tonight."

"Good." That would at least mean one peaceful night. "Tell me if he causes any problems." Then he and Soundwave left. They walked in silence for about a cycle before Soundwave played a recording.

"Punishment." Ultra Magnus couldn't help but smile, he had been thinking about the same thing.

"It seems I'll have to be more creative later should he break any more rules." He didn't say it, but he was sure he would have plenty of chances to do exactly that. It was very clear after Smokescreens speech earlier. "Though I have the feeling he could make any punishment into something enjoyable if he really wanted to."

Soundwave didn't answer, but played another recording instead. "Megatron." Ultra Magnus turned serious again.

"I have my doubts he will accept, but if the Decepticons hear it from him, they are more likely to believe this is not some sort of trick to punish them." He turned to look at Soundwave, though there were no optics to meet his. "Will you have any problems contacting him?"

Soundwave shook his helm. That was good, at least he knew that part would go smoothly. Primus knew they had more than enough hard times in store for them. He was about to say something else when Soundwave spoke again.

"Starscream." It was clear what he was referring to, Ultra Magnus thought about what he would answer for a moment.

"I know he has never been trustworthy, and that he can be dangerous to our cause." He didn't need to think about that part. It was the next one he had to be careful about, "But so could you." He looked back at Soundwave, who actually turned his helm towards him. "And Knockout too. As Smokescreen said, we have no real way of knowing if you are honest or not. For all I know, you could be planning to kill me and continue where Megatron left off." He remembered what Smokescreen said, what their only option left was. He was starting to believe in it too. "In the end, all we can do is give you a chance, trust you while at the same time being cautious, and take one step at the time. We will have to do the same with Starscream."

Soundwave didn't say anything, but since he didn't object Ultra Magnus chose to take that as an agreement. He frowned a little before continuing, "However, I want you to keep an optic on him. Make sure he isn't causing any problems and in no way harmful towards anyone. Especially the newsparks… and Rodimus."

Yes, Rodimus. They had to keep an optic on him as well. It was clear that Rodimus was walking a very different path than most newsparks. He wouldn't wait and see if things turned out the way he wanted, he would make it happen. Ultra Magnus just hoped that it wouldn't harm him along the way.

He made a mental note to talk with Soundwave about that later, along with the rest of the Autobots. For now, Soundwave would go back to his work finding more Cybertronian ships and Ultra Magnus would talk to Smokescreen about that promotion. Then they would call Ratchet and see if they could convince him to agree to their new plan.

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 **This is it for now. Feel free to leave a review, telling me whatever you feel like.**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy it :)**

 **Remember, no beta, so there will be some mistakes in here. Tell me were they are and I will fix it as soon as possible.**

 **Transformers belongs to Hasbro.**

Soundwave could hear the loud voice of the Autobot medic Ratchet. He wasn't on the Nemesis, but talking - shouting was perhaps the better word - with Smokescreen and Ultra Magnus through a video connection from earth. It had almost been a groon since the start of the conversation, and Ratchet was still against the idea of recruiting the Decepticons.

He was surprised that it took Smokescreen so long to convince him, but then, this was Ratchet. He had a reputation of being very stubborn, which was good when fixing dying mechs that said they were fine, but not otherwise. However, by the tone of both Ratchets and Smokescreens voice he estimated that they would be done soon.

Soundwave had so far found four Autobot ships and three Decepticon ships. Ultra Magnus had ordered him to not contact them yet, but wait until he had talked to Ratchet. He also wanted to find Megatron and ask for his help as well before calling the Decepticons. Soundwave was certain that he would accept, not doubting that Megatron's wish to help rebuild Cybertron would win over his feeling of not belonging among the Autobots. Despite what many would think, Megatron had always been one to listen to reason.

Almost, at least. There were a few things Soundwave, and other Deceptions, had been sceptical to one of his plans. Of course, most of the time they were proven wrong, but other times… Starscream, that was the one subject Megatron never allowed anyone to get involved in. It was between them and no one else. Of course, Soundwave had been spying on Starscream, often destroying or delaying his schemes against Megatron, but in the end, it was between the leader and his SIC. Soundwave had seen many mechs die after failing their leader, but whenever Starscream failed, he only received a beating. It was as if they were playing a game, and no one was allowed to join. Soundwave had his suspicions as to how this started, but he couldn't be sure. He didn't even think the mechs themselves knew, it was just some old pattern that they couldn't break. Now that the war was over, there was a chance it was over for good, but you couldn't be sure when I came to those two.

The discussion amongst the Autobots stopped and Soundwave turned to see how it was going. Smokescreen was standing with his arms down to his side and just looking at the screen. For a few kliks no one said anything, until Ratchet apparently had enough, "Fine. Do what you must, but don't come running to me when the problems start coming." Smokescreen had won, again. He heard them saying goodbye and telling each other that everything would be alright before the connection was cut. Ultra Magnus and Smokescreen turned and walked towards Soundwave.

Soundwave turned back to his console and started portraying the signals of all the ships and their position in space. He made sure that he would be ready to contact any of them before turning again towards Ultra Magnus and Smokescreen. There was many more battles to win, but Soundwave was sure they would be faster than convincing Ratchet. He also kept Megatron's life signal up on another screen.

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It was raining today, or dripping was perhaps a better word. Anyway, the sun was not visible, and Ratchet thought that was only appropriate as he drove down the small road. He didn't know where he was heading, and didn't care either. He just needed some time alone.

The call from Cybertron had been more than just an ordinary update, and he was still trying to make the pieces fit together. Just letting Megatron and Starscream go had been a challenge for him, and now he was supposed to let the entire Decepticon army walk on his home planet? The bots who were guilty in destroying the planet in the first place? It went against everything in his being, and he got sick when thinking about it. Everything he had done as a medic kept playing in his head: picking shrapnel out of wounds, putting together energon lines, disassembling mechs for spare parts, watching his friends die, watching Optimus fight for his life…

He stopped and transformed, the memories becoming too much for him. _"Optimus would agree"_ Smokescreen had said. Ratchet knew it was true, but it didn't make it any easier. He started to walk away from the road and into a forest. The dripping continued and so did the flow of memories. There was so much violence, so many losses. And now that they had finally restored Cybertron, Optimus had to give his own life and the Decepticons were giving a first class ticket home. It just wasn't fair. None of it was. Yet, he still agreed to the idea.

Smokescreen had used many good arguments to convince Ratchet. After a while, he had slowly started to really listen and think what this could mean. He didn't want the newsparks to grow up on a planet were half of the population sat in prison and the other half were angry war veterans. If they couldn't let go of their grudges, what would that teach to the new generation? So, he had agreed. It was still hard, and he wasn't sure if he would be able to go back home any time soon, but he prayed that this was the right course for them to take.

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Megatron transformed and landed. The sounds of his pedes hitting the ground disappeared in the wind that still blew through Vos. The buildings were different from the other big cities; most of the inner structures were still standing. It didn't mean it was less torn apart than the rest of the planet, just in a different way.

The Cybertronians that build Vos had been flight capable, and had therefore focused on making it a city that would fit that part of them perfectly. The buildings were taller and more stable than any other on Cybertron, there had been platforms for landings and take-off everywhere and roads and stairs between the buildings and levels for those who wished to walk as well. Seeing the city from afar was like looking at a giant building without walls. Walking in it was the same thing: there were roads and platforms high above you like a roof, but no walls other than the buildings itself. However, you didn't feel as if you were inside a building. The distance between you and the platforms above you were enough for dozens of seekers to fly on top of each other while doing tricks without any danger.

Right now, there was no platforms or roads left. Only part of the buildings, one of which Megatron was standing on, along with the strong inner structures. He couldn't see the ground from this height, reminding him how much the inhabitants of the city loved the sky.

Megatron had spent his last orbital cycles to visit every city on Cybertron, and now this was his last stop. The wind picked up debris and dust, growing stronger as the sun touched the horizon and darkness began to fall. As stars began to fill the sky's, he wondered what it might have looked like if it wasn't in ruins and the population wasn't scattered across the cosmos. He knew without a doubt that he would have heard jet engines all around him and the sound of transformation along with it. There would most likely have been laughter as some of the younger seekers challenged each other and tested their limits, and then scolding from the elders as they broke some of the rules.

He started walking towards one of the edges and felt the ground under him protest to the movement, before transforming again. He flew slowly over the city and took in as much as he could. When he reached the end, he dipped and flew through the city closer to the ground. There was debris everywhere: pillars blocking the road and holes in the ground from explosions. As he reached the end of the city again, he stopped and transformed. He looked towards the horizon.

He had hoped refugees would have started coming by now and filled the planet again, but they hadn't. The newsparks were of course a good start, but they would need more experienced bots to rebuild everything. Hopefully, they would arrive soon.

While standing there at the edge of Vos, Megatron realized that for the first time in his life he had nothing to do and nowhere to go. No mines that needed mining, no opponents that needed killing, no attacks that needed planning. It was strange and agonizing, he was a Cybertronian of action and hard labor, but it was liberating as well. For the first time in his life, he could sit down and do nothing. Not that he wanted to do that, but he had never had the option before. It was strangely satisfying to have that now.

A green light to his left quickly broke the spell of his discovery. Not that he minded it really, it was just unexpected, along with the fact that Ultra Magnus came through alone.

"Ultra Magnus."

"Megatron." His tone held none of the distrust from the last time, gaining Megatron's full attention.

"What brings you here?" None of them moved closer to the other, both deeming it best to keep their distance.

"I was hoping we could have a discussion." His optics had no hidden fury or hate, which was very surprising considering, well, everything.

"About what?" Ultra Magnus seemed to look for the right words.

"About your Decepticons. I believe we could use your help to convince them to keep our newfound peace."

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 **As always, feel free to leave a review.**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Hello and welcome to the next chapter. I've been really tired these last weeks and had some troubles writing (along with wanting to paint and draw all the time), so there might be some slow updates... well, slower. I will try to avoid that though.**

 **Another 'filler chapter', but that didn't seem to bother you too much last time, so thats good :) And in case I don't tell you, I really appreciate** **your reviews C:**

 **Transformers belongs to Hasbro.**

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Knockout didn't need to look up from his datapad to know where he was going. The only thing he had to look after where the newsparks who would run around the ship. He was lucky to still have a clean finish with all the narrow escapes he had had ever since their started arriving. Fortunate for him, none of the newsparks was on their way to the bridge so a few more turns and he was alone.

Ha had two datapads with him, one was the usual report to Ultra Magnus about where he had been and what he had been doing the last orbital cycle, the other was about Starscreams medical condition. The bot himself were recharging after Knockout was able to fix him again. He was lucky that the damages were only minor, heavens knows how many other things could have happened thanks to that trip. He couldn't really blame Starscream though. If the places where reversed, Knockout would have gone mad too if he had to stay at the very same spot for so long. But, he was the doctor, and he had to look after his patients. No matter how annoying they were.

He took one last turn before heading straight to the door to the bridge. His own report wasn't really an issue at any kind, Ultra Magnus just wanted him to follow the rules. He just had to deliver it and that was it. Starscreams medical report however would need some discussing. It was still a little early to be sure, but if they were going to have to deal with a flightless seeker, they might be in for some hard times.

They would first have to keep an optic on him, see how he was reacting to the news and the possibility that he might stay grounded – an unstable seeker, and unstable Starscream, was a very bad thing. Then they would have to start training: Starscream would need help to learn to walk correctly again. The loss of feeling in his wing would mean that some of his sensors were offline, sensors that helped him measures the wind current and air pressure, along with keeping his balance. They were necessary both on the ground and in the air. It wasn't impossible for him to walk normally, but he would need time and practice.

Knockout groaned. How was he supposed to survive having to deal with that? None of the others would help him, except for Ratchet occasionally, and even if the Autobots wanted to, Starscream wouldn't let them. He didn't have much pride, but the little he had he held on to like his life depended on it. He just hoped that the wing would heal and that his worries would end up being for no reason.

Knockout never really cared whether there was anyone on the bridge, except for Ultra Magnus of course. If there were anyone else there he would have someone to talk to for a short while, if not, he would just find them somewhere else. Suddenly joining the Autobtos hadn't been the easiest thing in the universe, but it wasn't that bad really. Yes, they were sceptical of him, but they didn't look at him like he was their next meal and that was good enough for him. They also let him join in on conversations and kept him company. He might be a bit self-centered, who wouldn't be looking as good as he did, but he were also a social bot. He needed someone to talk to in order to keep himself sane. The last thing he needed was ending up like Starscream and talk to himself when he thought no one was looking.

This time however, when he entered the bridge, something made him look up from his work and take notice of who was in the room. He was not prepared to meet the optics of his former leader.

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Starscream couldn't recharge. He wasn't tired, even though he should be, and the sounds from the stupid machines didn't help either. He hated this state he was in: weak, defenceless and wounded. Those cursed Predacons! They did this to him. And they were still alive out there. Alive and free. It wasn't fair. He worked hard to bring justice to his planet, to bring it back to life. They haven't done anything and still they were the ones out there while he was stuck in here.

Starscream vented heavily. If he was honest, and right now he was, he wasn't angry. Well, not at the moment. He was… sad. Disappointed. Crushed. Defeated.

He hadn't had those feelings for such a long time that he almost didn't recognise them. He didn't want to either. They reminded him of another time, when things had been better and that that time would never come again. _They_ would never come back. Scrap. That was the second time in one orbital cycle that he thought of them. Why was that? He was usually able to stay away from those thoughts.

In order to not continue down that trail of thought, Starscream thought about Rodimus instead. Not because the newspark meant anything to him, it was just the first thing he could think of that wasn't directly bad. He was rather okay, considering how curious and young he was. Starscream had never been one to like the younger generations. They were full of everything and didn't understand how life worked. Rodimus however, seemed a little different. Maybe he had Megatron to thank for that. The irony of that thought almost hurt him.

Anyway, Rodimus. The newspark was something Starscream would admit that. He had shown that he was willing to find answers even if he might get in trouble, and he showed a strong sense of independence. He also payed attention when spoken to. From the questions from last night, it was clear that Rodimus remembered everything Starscream had told him. Even things he had forgotten himself. He was curious and showed great interest in everything he didn't know. Once upon a time, Starscream had been like that too. He was still willing to get what he wanted, but Rodimus wanted answers to questions, Starscream just… wanted.

He wondered what Rodimus might turn into one orbital cycle. Starscream had ended up as a flightless Decepticon, war bitter and angry at everything around him. Even though he didn't care for the newspark, something in him hoped he would turn out differently. Better. Maybe because Rodimus showed interest in the Decepticons. The first mech he met was their leader and he was currently 'befriending' the SIC as well. He knew what the Decepticons had done, and still cared for them and what might happen to them. Starscream knew the Autobots wondered what he might become, probably believed he would be nothing but trouble, and he wanted them to be wrong. He wanted something just a little bit good to come out of Rodimus' curiosity.

Ssssssssssssss

Never had Rodimus believed that it was possible to be this tired. He couldn't feel his pedes, his arms were impossible to move and his optics kept closing even though he did everything he could to keep them open. Thankfully, he was almost at his room and he would be able to recharge then.

"Careful there kid." Wheeljack stopped him from walking straight into a wall. "We're almost there now."

Wheeljack had made him work as hard as he could, not letting him stop until it was late. Rodimus had heard him say to Ultra Magnus that he would make sure he didn't have any energy to stay up that night. He had kept his promise. One would think that cleaning stuff wasn't such a hard job, but Wheeljack had proven him wrong.

"Here we are." They stopped by the door. It opened up and showed them more than thirty newsparks. That's right, he had some explaining to do.

"Get some rest kid, and try to stay out of trouble." Wheeljack said, but added a wink before turning. He was one of those that almost encouraged them to be wild and troublesome. That was good because Rodimus was sure he would have to break the rules a few more times.

"Roddy!" Blurr and Springer came running, some of the other newsparks followed them. "What happene? They said you broke some rules, but wouldn't say anything else."

"What did you do?"

"Was it dangerous?" The questions kept coming.

He vented, "Look, I'm really tired so I can't explain everything," He walked slowly towards his berth while the others made a small path for him. "But long story short: I became friends with another Decepticon. His name is Starscream and he was Megatron's second in command. He got hurt and is recovering in the medbay." He climbed up on his berth. "Oh, and I listened to some of the private meetings the Autobots had. They were mad about that too." He found a comfortable position on his front with one pede dangling over the edge and one arm tucked under his helm.

"But how did you found out about Starscream?"

"What did you hear at the meetings?"

"When did you do all this?"

Rodimus heard some of the questions, but ignored them. He was one of those that could recharge even with a lot of noise around him, and right now, he was thankful for that. Tomorrow he would answer their questions, but now he needed to rest. Just before he entered his recharge, he wondered if Ultra Magnus had contacted Megatron yet, and when he would meet him.

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 **That's it for now. Feel free to leave a review.**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	19. Chapter 19

**I hope you all have had a good week so far, and that it contiues that way :) Here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy it, it was very intresting to write.**

 **If (when) you see any grammar mistakes, I apologize and please tell me in a review so I can fix it.**

 **Transformers belongs to Hasbro.**

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The halls seems different now that the Nemesis belonged to the Autobots. Megatron felt as if he was intruding on enemy grounds and would be shot at in any moment. Everyone that needed to know knew he was here, so there wouldn't be any trouble, or at least no violence, but he still felt out of place. However, he only planned to stay for as long as they needed him, and then he would leave. He didn't belong here, among the Autobots. Among Optimus friends. He would help any way he could, and then get out of their way.

He turned left and then right. He knew theses halls, had memorised them a long time ago. He knew how many steps it would take to get from one point to another when he walked and when he ran. He knew that he would take 233 more steps before he reached his intended location. It was late, most bots would be recharging now, or at least resting in their rooms. He would do the same, but he had to get this done first.

The arrival on the Nemesis had gone much better than he expected. The atmosphere had been stiff and tense, but that was better than last time he was here. Some of the Autobots had seemed against the idea of a cooperation, but they hadn't made a scene about it. The Decepticons they had contacted had mostly seemed fine with everything, though they all knew there would be some trouble when they came. There were still things that needed discussing, but they had at least gotten started. The next step he had to take was without the Autobtos. Megatron stopped outside the medbay.

He could hear some of the machines working, but no other sounds came. Still, he knew that Starscream was awake. He met his optics as soon as the doors opened.

"Come in, Megatron." Starscream was sitting up and using his arms to support him. There was no marks on his chassis, though the clamp on his pede and wing made it clear he couldn't leave this room. Or shouldn't.

"Starscream." Megatron walked in through the door and stopped in front of his berth. Neither of them broke optic contact.

Starscream spoke first, like usual. "I'm surprised to see you, _here_." He wasn't happy about it either. Megatron had expected so.

"Ultra Magnus wanted my help in convincing the rest of the Decepticons to join their cause. I accepted." They both tried to read the others intentions: what they wanted and what they would do to achieve it. Megatron always thought he knew what Starscream wanted, but after Knockout explained about the injuries, he wasn't so certain.

"Obviously." Starscream narrowed his optics and flicked his wings…Wing.

Megatron saw no need to avoid the obvious and said, "They told me about your injuries." He saw how the good wing moved in anger and how Starscream clenched his servos. Knockout said he didn't know how Starscream was taking the news yet. Megatron had no problem seeing how he was taking them. It wasn't good.

However, he didn't know if there was any way for them to help him. Starscream didn't like getting help. He had tried once before – not because he cared much, but because he needed Starscream stable and able to fight – and that hadn't worked. He had lost his wing-brothers, Skywarp and Thundercracker, in battle and for a short while, it had seemed as if he would join them. Megatron had attempted to get him to eat, but that hadn't worked. He left Starscream alone after that, and suddenly he was back as if nothing happened. As is his brothers never even existed.

"Is that why you are here?" Starscream suddenly seemed to find strength enough to sit up at get down from the berth. He put little to no weight on his bad pede and he needed to hold onto the berth in order to stay up, but he managed so without breaking optic contact. "To take mock me about yet another 'failure'?" There was something other than anger in his tone, but Megatron wasn't sure what.

"No," He saw how his answer somehow surprised Starscream, "I came to find your true intentions."

"My intentions?" He said the words in a way that made them seem poisonous.

"The war is over, I ended the Decepticons as an army," Megatron raised his optical ridge, "it would be the perfect opportunity for someone else to take my place." He knew Starscream already tried, that's why he was at the tower. But what would he do now?

Starscream's wing flared and anger was burning in his optics. "Then you will be glad to hear that that 'someone' is not going to be me. My intentions is to stay alive. As for the moment, the Autobots are the only one who can help me with that." He flicked his wing again, this time intentionally. Megatron understood. Starscream had already lost too much; he wasn't going to risk losing more, not matter how little he had left. Oddly enough, Megatron trusted him. For now, Starscream wouldn't go against them and cause trouble.

However, there was one more thing he had to ask.

"And Rodimus?" Starscream raised his optical ridge.

"What about him?" Megatron could see Starscream knew what he meant. He still answered.

"What are your intentions with Rodimus?" He had been surprised when he heard what the newspark had done, but even more surprised when it seemed like Starscream didn't mind him.

Starscream didn't miss a beat, "I wouldn't get much help from the Autobots if I hurt him, now would I?" There was a pause before he continued, "Besides, he doesn't bother me _that_ much."

Megatron could see Starscream was thinking. About Rodimus. Usually, when Starscream thought about another living being, it meant something bad would happen to them, but this time it seemed different. Megatron decided to trust that Starscream was telling the truth. Again.

"...Thank you." The words was hard to say, almost as if it went against his very being, but he still said them and meant it. He was thankful. Right now, they all needed to work together in order to rebuild their planet. Even Starscream had to be with them if they wanted to make this work.

Starscream was just as surprised by his words as he was. He almost let go of the berth and lost his balance, but saved himself just in time. Megatron broke their staring contest and turned to leave. He was stopped right in front of the door.

"What are _your_ intentions?" He turned again and looked at Starscream. He wasn't tense anymore. It almost looked like he was just curious. Of course, Starscream was never 'just' anything.

"To rebuild Cybertron. And make it a better home for all Cybertronians." Starscream smiled as if he'd been told a joke.

"You've said that before, remember?" That was true, those exact words. The first time they met, he had used them to explain what the Decepticons stood for. "What's so different this time?" He raised his optical ridge, still smiling. "You're not blind anymore?"

This time Megatron was the one who got surprised. Did Starscream believe that, or was he playing with him?

He didn't answer though. He simply continued out of the room.

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Starscream watched as the doors closed behind Megatron, and he was alone again.

 _What was that about?_

He had expected threats and commands of staying out of trouble, not…whatever that was.

Starscream climbed carefully back onto the berth. Hopefully, Soundwave wouldn't show that to Knockout, he was angry enough as it was. Speaking of Soundwave, he was probably asking Megatron again why he let him live. Starscream couldn't help but smile. In one of their rare 'friendly' moments, one of which they just had, Megatron told him about Soundwave and that he didn't trust him.

"Does he have a reason?" He had asked. It was early in the war, and in his time among the Decepticons. He was just leader of one of the flight squadrons back then, and his intentions was still good. Well, good enough.

"Soundwave always has a reason. And so do I." Megatron had known everything about him thanks to Soundwave, and he therefore knew that Soundwaves reasons were valid. He also wanted Starscream to know that he was there only because Megatron said so.

It had worked, for a while, to keep Starscream in check. But, he never was able to just accept the second best things in life. He wanted a higher position, and he planned to achieve it. A few broken rules here, some foul play there, and up he went. Some probably thought that Megatron hadn't known about the rule breaking, but the truth was that he knew everything.

Everything…

Megatron knew about his past. He knew about his…loss. His brothers…and his reaction to that.

Starscream smiled again. _Well played._

Megatron wasn't just after his intentions. He wanted to know how Starscream was handling the fact he might not fly again, which was the worst thing that had happened to him since 'they' died. This made everything a bit more interesting, because now Starscream had to know why Megatron needed to know that. Moreover, thanks to his current situation, it would be a bit challenging. Which was good. He needed some extra distraction anyway.

 **ssssssss**

 **I just want to say that the weird 'hate - not so much hate' relationship Megatorn and Starscream share is one of my favorite things in the entire franchise. And the 'friendly' moments Starscream mentiond are those times we've seen in the (Prime) show were they don't seem to hate each other: Like when Starscream said they could get the Autobots to kill the predacons and Megatron was impressed, or when they both said to each other they have a way with words. It's complicated to try to understand and explain that relationship in a fanfiction, but I will take that challage and enjoy every second of it :3**

 **(And just so you know, there won't be anything romantic between them) And by they way, just becasue I'm curious, what is your view/theory (whatever you want to call it) on Starscream and Megatron's realtionship?**

 **Feel free to leave a review were you tell me anything you feel like. :)**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	20. Chapter 20

**I'm sorry for the long wait. I planned on this chapter to be about something else, but couldn't write it for some reason. This on the other hand, came rather easy. It's sort of rushed, so I** **apologise** **if it seems messy. And like ususal, there is some grammar mistakes here, sorry again. Tell me in a review and I'll fix it!**

 **Transformers belongs to Hasbro.**

 **ssssssssss**

She didn't feel too good. Or rather, she didn't feel much at all. She knew why, this wasn't the first time, but she hated it still. Moments when the only feeling was emptiness, when almost nothing could make it go away. That was why she worked so hard, because when she worked, she felt. Not always good feelings, but it was _something_.

Nights had always been the worst; she was alone then and there was little to distract her. However, thinking about her friends, bringing up memories, good ones, helped. A lot in fact. But tonight she let her thought just drift without any meaning. She didn't feel like trying to do anything about it. Not right now anyway.

"Come on 'Cee, lighten up!" She could practically hear Cliff say. He had said it so many times it was stuck in her head. She smiled a little bit. And then it dropped. Cliff's killer, Starscream, was so close. So close it felt wrong. Why should he be here, safe and alive? Oh, right. We are giving the 'cons a new chance.

Honestly, the only reason she agreed was because Optimus would have wanted it. She just couldn't let one of his wishes go without at least trying to make it real. He always had such hoped for their home, for their future, for everyone. Despite what Megatron had done to him, he would keep believing there was still hope, while at the same time doing everything in his power to end the war.

Earlier, Megatron had agreed to join them. Only for as long as they needed, but still. Megatron, THE Megatron, was here. With them… It felt so wrong, though at the same time, she actually didn't think he was planning on going against them. Arcee really believed he had changed.

She didn't trust him, oh no, that was something completely different, but she believed he had told the truth when he said he was on their side. However, Starscream was another subject. She didn't think he had changed, she didn't believe him when he said he would join them or had accepted their terms and she didn't trust him one bit. Never. Especially with the newsparks. Why Rodimus had taken an interest in him, other than a source for information about the war, was a mystery. Why Starscream had taken an interest in him, was not. She didn't know exactly what he wanted, but she did know he would do just about anything to get what he wanted, and use whatever was at his disposal. Even an innocent newspark.

After two groons of this, Arcee decided to take a drive. There was no reason to try to recharge when so much flooded her mind. As soon as she left the ship she transformed and drove towards the Well. She had been there a few times, just to think. Sometimes she had met Bumblebee or Bulkhead there and sometimes they talked, and sometimes they just sat there and listened to the silence. It was a place everyone knew they could go just to think. It was nice, in a sad way.

When she arrived she was surprised to see Knockout there. He stood beside the well and just looked towards the horizon. When he saw her he seemed surprised, but left her alone. She sat down by the Well, her pedes dangling over the edge. None of them said a word for a while. She knew however, he would start talking. It was just something you learned about Knockout, like he couldn't let the chance to talk get away from him. Right now, Arce didn't really mind it.

"Couldn't recharge?" He finally said.

She answered without turning. "No. You?"

"No." She herd him shift. He was probable inspecting one of his servos, a habit he had. "Does it happen often to you?"

Arcee thought about it. "No more than anyone else I think."

"And how often is that?" Either Knockout was being friendly, or he was being a doctor. "Because if you don't get enough rest, you will eventually shut down and enter stasis. Considering how much time you are out there looking for energon, that would be unfortunate." Okay, he was just being a doctor. Or maybe both?

"You don't need to worry, I had Ratchet watching my every move for long enough to know what I can take."

"Heh, I don't doubt that. Ratchet knows his job." Arcee looked down at the seeming endless Well. It was dark… She wondered if she looked at her spark that she would see the same thing. A dark hole where there once was light.

"How are you doing?" Arcee looked up sharply as Knockout sat down a little away from her. She hadn't heard him until now. She met his optics and saw real concern there. He smiled like he always did, and his tone hadn't been anything but casual, but his optics was searching hers. What was he doing? "I know I haven't been her long, and that I am defiantly _not_ Ratchet, but I am a doctor. And one thing we get really good at, is reading other bots." She looked away again. Oh.

She was usually good at hiding her feelings. How could Knockout see past them? They had barley seen each other the last orbital cycles. "I'm fine, just a bit tired. Like everyone else."

"Now that is a lie if I ever heard one. And I have heard a lot." She looked up at him. He was still smiling, like they were just talking about the weather, but somehow he had her actually wanting to tell the truth. "Look Arcee, I'm a doctor. And despite what you may think, I am familiar with doctor – patient confidentiality. Whatever you say, it'll stay with me." She smiled like he was joking, because what else could she do?

"And what makes you think I want to talk to you?"

"Because everyone else is either a close friend you don't want worrying about you or a newspark." Knockout smiled back, smug as always and no doubt that his words had reached her. He was right. She vented.

"I'm… not okay." There was no turning back once she told him the truth. But she really wanted to tell him too. She decided to just let the words out. "Whenever it's quiet, when I'm alone with nothing to do, I get this feeling of, well, just being empty. Like a shell. It's, um, what kept me up tonight, and other night too. Sometimes I manage to ignore it, or 'chase' it away, but it always comes back." She stopped, and a feeling of both relief and fear filled her. Now to wait for the 'doctors' response. To her surprise, he took his time.

"When did it start? When was to first time, and when did it come back?" His smile was gone, and his tone was serious, but none the less friendly. Just like Ratchet.

"When I lost my… my first partner. And now after Optimus…left." This was so hard, but also so easy. Talking was really a weird thing.

"Is this why you always take on so many missions?" She nodded. "mhm."

"Well, you'd be surprised how many other bots feels the same way." What? She looked up at him. He was still serious, but a soft smile was back on his faceplate. "It's rather common under longer periods of stressful situations, and with the loss of close friends it only increases. The war provided both." He got up and stretched his arms over his helm. Then he held his servo down at her. "It goes away with time." She took it and let him help her up. "I don't know when, but I know that talking, whether with a friend or a doctor, helps. You just have to keep fighting a little longer." And then he winked at her as their 'session' ended. She shook her helm and crossed her arms. Why wasn't she surprised?

"Well that's one way to end a doctor's appointment."

Knockout only smiled, his smug and confident attitude back. "I told you: I'm not Ratchet. He has his ways, I have mine." They both started walking away from the well and Arcee realised she felt much better. Not just because she had finally talked about it, but also because she knew Knockout had really listened.

"…Thanks Knockout." He smiled, "No problem." They transformed and drove back towards the ship. After a few silent cycles though, she started wondering about something. Knockout had been out there for a reason too. Alone, in the middle of the night.

"How are you doing Knockout?" He was a social bot, but no one really knew anything about him. As far as she knew, he didn't spend much one-on-one time with anyone and when in groups, they didn't talk about personal stuff.

He didn't answer right at away, but she knew he had heard her. Just when she was about to repeat the question, he said. "I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"Yes. It's really funny because when patients tell me that I always say: "If you don't know that you're doing fine, then it must mean you're not." But I really don't know."

"How so?" She asked. Not that she really knew where to lead the conversation, as Knockout had with her, but it showed she had heard him. "I'm being treated well. I get the energon I need, Ultra Magnus sees me as a co-worker and not a slave and the rest of you let me join you're conversations. But at the same time, I'm…" He hesitated, not because of fear it sounded like, but because he couldn't find the words. "I guess I'm lonely. I wake up, I get energon, I fix Starscream – something I'm really getting tired of – I talk to anyone who's available and I do whatever task Magnus gives me before it's night again." As Arcee listened, she realised how glad she was that she wasn't a doctor. What was she supposed to say now?

"Sounds to me like you need a friend." Arcee had no idea if that was a good response. But it was something.

"I know. It's a work in progress. However, it's a little hard to get past the 'acquaintance zone' with anyone when Starscream is my patient."

"You don't have to bring sarcasm into this. It's not really a joking matter." She said it carefully, but meant it just the same. She wanted to help, but wondered if the jokes were used to hide how he really felt.

"I know." Did he really? "It's just my way to deal with it. You work yourself to death, I joke about serious matters." Arcee would have rolled her optics if she could. Anyway, he was done. He seemed content with what he had told her, and she still felt better after she had talked.

The rest of the drive was done in silence. Just before going back to their rooms, Knockout thanked her, and she responed the same way he had: No problem. And even though no one mentioned it, there was no doubt they had moved past the 'acquaintance zone'. A good way to end a day, in her opinion.

 **sssssssssssss**

 **I have no idea what it's called what Arcee has, but I know Knockout is right about the talking part. And I also know it's really hard to talk about it unless someone else starts the conversation. But, if you suffer from anything, please don't give up.**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	21. Chapter 21

**I'll star with the usual: sorry for the (yet again) long wait!**

 **I want to let you all know that every time you leave a review, follow or favorite my story, it makes me happy. I'm not fishing for compliments, you do what you want to do, but I want o let you know that it has meaning.**

 **As you maybe know, I don't make promises about when the next chapter will come. I don't want to break them, so I dont make promises. But from the beginning I promised myself that I would finish this. The updates won't be regular, the chapters of different length, but I won't abandon it.**

 **Grammar mistakes are still here, somewhere hidden from me. Tell me if you find them. :)**

 **Transformers belongs to Hasbro.**

 **sssssssssss** **s**

Everyone stood near a window when they entered the Alpha Centauri, the star system to their home, to Cybertron. No one had been home for vorns, and it felt surreal that the journey was soon over. Some of them were loud, they laughed and told stories of how they remembered their homes. Others were quiet, they just stood there and took in the sight of their home as they moved closer and closer.

Sadly, however, they weren't the only one heading home. Only a few Astronomical Units behind them was a Decepticon ship. They had been in contact, saying they were not coming with hostile intentions, but only wanting to go home. Frankly, Kup didn't believe that. But, they had direct orders from Ultra Magnus to not attack any Decepticons unless they shot first. So far, that hadn't happened.

"Have you ever seen anything like that before Kup?" Crosshairs asked from his right. He looked towards the other bots gathered at the bridge. Those who knew Kup, knew he had seen just about everything that could be seen, and often asked him what a certain situation reminded him of.

"Yeah, it reminds me of that time I came home after chasing a criminal all the way to Athenia." He stopped and mused for a moment. "But we were only gone for about a deca-cycle."

Crossharis nodded, "I know what you mean." He looked out the front again. Cybertron was still a distance away, but they would land in 2 groons. "I'm still waiting for someone to come in and say it's all a just a joke or something."

"I think we're all feeling the same thing. Fifty thousand vorns is a long time." Kup said. He crossed his arms and looked down at the floor. "But at least we're going home."

Crosshairs nodded, but then looked down at the ground as well. "…you still thinking about the 'cons trailing after us?"

Kup nodded. He hadn't been able to get them out of his mind ever since Ultra Magnus called them. "I never thought I'd say this, but I think Ultra Magnus has lost his touch."

"All I know is that I won't feel safe with the 'cons walking around freely." Crossharis met his optics. "They've proved over and over again that they can't be trusted."

Kup agreed with him, and as soon as an opportunity presented itself he would have talk with Ultra Magnus. There had to be a way to get some sense into his thick helm.

Sssssssssssssssssss

The top deck on the Nemesis was, to be blunt, large. There were room for 10 flight squadrons, which had come in handy several times during the war, and you could land a smaller ship on it. Rodimus had barely gotten started by the time Megatron arrived and that was 5 goons after he began.

"I never get tired of seeing his determination." Smokescreen commented as they watched the newspark on the other side of the deck. He hadn't seen them yet.

Megatron looked at Smokescreen. He had been surprisingly friendly ever since Megatron got back; friendly smiles, polite manners and so on, and Megatron couldn't help but wonder why. "May I ask you a question?" Smokescreen turned and met his optics. Megatron was twice as big, had lived longer than him, could break his back strut in one move and was the reason Cybertron was currently in ruins. Still, Smokescreen's optics held no resentment. "Sure, go ahead."

"Why are you doing this?" He didn't need to elaborate as Smokescreen looked away for a klik. "That's a very good question." He answered.

"First of, it's all of the obvious things: you guys can help us, everyone deserve a new chance, Optimus would have wanted this." He looked at Rodimus again. "But in the end, it's because I don't want him and all of his friends thinking that when you make a mistake, it all over. You don't get another chance at all."

Megatron looked over at the newspark as well. "That is a good reason." Smokescreen smiled, "Thanks." He looked back at Rodimus one last time before turning towards the door. "I'll leave you two alone, just remember that the first ship will arrive soon. It's best if you are there when they arrive to, you know, get the worst part out of the way as soon as possible." Megatron understood perfectly what he meant. One thing was knowing he was there, another thing was seeing him standing side by side with Ultra Magnus.

He turned towards Rodimus and started walking. He hadn't really offered the newspark much thought after he left him with the Autobots. Of course, he hoped he was doing well and that he found friends amongst the other newsparks, but other than that he hadn't thought much of him. Rodimus on the other side, had apparently not managed to get Megatron out of his mind.

Megatron took his time walking over the deck. Patience was, surprisingly enough, one of his strong suits. He liked it when things worked fast and he got past the problems, but he could wait if it was needed. Well, most of the time at least. When he first found out about Unicron being on earth, he hadn't been patient at all. Now, however, there was no rush. Thankfully. And even though the first refugees were landing shortly, he hoped they all could take one step at the time. Most problems would be avoided that way.

As he walked, a few questions resurfaced.

" _He asked a lot about you and the war. He's probably going to do the same when he sees you again."_

Why was Rodimus so interested in him and the war?

" _It was his idea to recruit the Decepticons."_

What had he done that deserved this kind of attention and, if the Autobots were right, admiration?

Nothing. He had saved his life, but that couldn't be it. Not after he heard the truth about him. He was the gladiator who let anger get the better of him, he was the one who destroyed their planet and he was the reason their species was divided in two different factions.

But it still didn't answer the question. Why? And why care so much for the Decepticons? To be honest, he was glad someone had decided to care for his soldiers, but that someone being Rodimus was not expected.

Justice. That was one thing he knew everyone wanted, and expected, when the war ended. But letting Soundwave, Starscream and himself roam freely wasn't justice. Letting the Decepticons come back with no intention of punishing them wasn't justice. It was unfair. It was against the law. It was… mercy.

As leader of the Decepticons, mercy had been a foreign word. When someone made a mistake, they were punished one way or another: loss of rank, prison, physical pain or death. He knew the same was for the Autobots, though perhaps not the exact same type of punishments. He knew Optimus well enough to know that he had showed mercy, but not the same that was shown now. No one would be punished for their crimes, but instead have chance to start again. And Megatron hoped more than anything that the Decepticons would take that chance and use it to the full. Time would come and go before there was peace in their sparks and Autobots felt safe around Decepticons, but they had to start somewhere. Why not now?

He was close now. So close Rodimus could probably hear his steps if he wanted to. And he did. He looked up from his work and saw him. He smiled and started to run towards him, waving his arms to get his attention. Megatron smiled back. At least someone was ready to start.

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 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	22. Chapter 22

**I'm going on vacation for two weeks and then school starts, so thought I should upload this before I leave and get busy.**

 **I hope you all have had a good summer and that whatever you're going to do this fall turns out great :) Good luck!**

 **Grammar mistakes hides from me, but if you find them, tell me and I'll make them go away.**

 **Transformers belongs to Hasbro.**

 **sssssssssss**

The first refugees had landed. They were pouring out of the two ships like a water, and nothing could've held them back. Some celebrated with cheers and laughter, others stood quietly and took in the sights, some even shed tears. It took time for everyone to get out, and then for everyone to fall quiet. They were all looking towards the well, were Ultra Magnus stood with Megatron by his side. The rest of the crew stood underneath them, Soundwave and Smokescreen excluded as they were looking after the newsparks and Starscream.

As everyone quieted down and waited for him to speak, Ultra Magnus realized how unprepared he was. He was good on the battlefield, but on the soapbox, as the humans had called it, he wasn't much better than the average bot. Sure, he had had a few speeches here and there during the war, but this was something different.

"Autobots," He looked to the right, where they stood as a separated crowd from the Decepticons. He recognized some that stood in the front, but most were unrecognizable in the sea of faces. "Decepticons," He turned his helm to the left. He didn't know any of them, but he could see Megatron did. He couldn't help but wonder, was he nervous as well? "Welcome home."

There was no shout of joy or big applause, but a certain feeling of peace filled the air. They really were home. If only that peace would last.

"The war is finally over, and we are going to rebuild Cybertron back to what it once was. However, the setting isn't what either of us would have thought." He looked at the Decepticons, "I know you all thought you would win, and reign over Cybertron," He looked back at the Autobots, "While we thought the opposite. However, I learned that in a war, there is no winners, only losers. And we have all lost something that we can never get back." He hadn't planned a long speech, and would keep it that way too. "I understand that the our plan on uniting our two factions goes against all logic, but if we don't the war isn't truly over. It will still be Autobots against Decepticons. I, for one, am tired of war. I am tired of wondering if the next moment will be my last, tired wondering which one of my friends will be the next to die and tired of killing. And I know many of you are feeling the same way. We can leave all that behind us, and start anew. But it takes more than one bot to do so. It takes all of you working together." There, he was finished. Not as inspirational as Optimus would have been, but he got to the point and made it understandable.

He looked at Megatron and let him take over. He had asked to shortly tell the story of how they made Cybertron inhabitable again and how Optimus lost his life. Ultra Magnus hadn't been sure that was a good idea, worried the Autobots would blame him for Optimus' death and attempt revenge. Megatron however, is very good with words. He convinced Ultra Magnus that it would be best if he did it. Here's to hoping, as Jack once said.

"I remember the first time a spoke for an audience. I was still a gladiator then, but I saw how my popularity had given me power to make bots listen. And I held many speeches as time went. I spoke about equality, freedom and justice. These were my reasons to go up against the counsel so long ago.

You all know how the war started, and you know how it consumed our planet and it's resources. And inhabitants. I forgot about equality, freedom and justice, and instead aimed to destroy all of you who stood against me and take over Cybertron. As we left our planet and scattered to the stars, Optimus and a small team of Autobots found a planet with energon and made a base there. The Decepticon ship the Nemesis, followed them and we continued the war there. As time went by, we found artifacts that would help us rebuild Cybertron. We fought over them, and in our the last battle Autobot scout Bumblebee pierced my spark with a sword and killed me." A gasp went through the crowd, and Bumblebee who also turned around and looked at him. Ultra Magnus didn't think he would've included that detail, that he had been killed by a mere scout. Everyone started to talk, and Megatron waited patiently for them to quiet again.

He raised servo and clenched it when he spoke again, "As you can see, I am alive. And different. As the Autobots returned to Cybertron and revived it, I was visited by Unicron himself. You will learn the full story later, but now know that Optimus had trapped him without his body, which made him interested in mine. As you can see he made some changes to my form, but the biggest change was that I had no control anymore. I could see and hear everything, but it was Unicron who controlled my actions.  
Unicron came here, to Cybertron, and planned on destroying our very core, Primus. Optimus had managed to find the Allspark, and had to fight Unicron from both destroying Primus and the hope of ever bringing new life to Cybertron. And he did." Megatron was quiet for a few moments. Everyone knew Optimus was gone, but they hadn't gotten all the details. Now they would. "The vessel that held and protected the Allspark, is a vessel like no other. Optimus knew that if it could hold the Allspark, then it could also be used to trap Unicron. However, he had to empty the vessel first. And the only other vessel strong enough to hold the Allspark was the Matrix of Leadership. Optimus captured Unicron, and in the process set me free. And as I was set free I remembered. I remembered everything I once wanted for our planet, and everything I had done to destroy it." Ultra Magnus could hear someone scoffing, but couldn't see who it was. There were many angry looking faces, and they didn't seem to care about Megatron's confession of his failure. No matter what anyone said now, there would be trouble later.

"By putting the Allspark in the Matrix, Optimus own spark became part of it. The only way to return the Allspark to the core, would be to join it. So, Optimus gave his life to ensure that new generations could be born. The Autobots have already taken many of them in, with new ones coming every orbital cycle. These new generations are young and full of life. Full of dreams.  
I have no right to ask any of you of anything, but I will give one request: Give these newsparks a chance to live. Many of you have stories to tell, wisdom to share and talents to show them. They will not hesitate to listen, nor learn. You have the chance to influence the new generation. And I will not stand in your way."

Several cycles went by without anyone saying anything aloud. Some spoke among themselves, others just waited for someone else to do something. Finally, there was movement. Four Decepticons moved slowly forward towards the Team Prime. When they came close enough, Ultra Magnus recognised them as the constructicons. They were carrying some weapons, but not in a hostile way. As they gathered a few meters in front of the rest of the decepticons, they started to throw the weapons on the ground towards Team Prime. After they finished, they look up at Megatron and Ultra Magnus.

"We're not much for teaching and all that, but we do know how to build." Scrapper, if Ultra Magnus remembered correctly, spoke for the group. "We can help with that."

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 **You know those amazing speeches Optimus somehow always makes at the right time? Well, I'm not Optimus... But you can pretend the speeches were great and moving!**

 **Thanks for reading though :)**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Here's chapter 23, and I'll just let you get to it.**

 **(grammar mistakes and all that)**

 **Transformers belongs to Hasbro.**

 **ssssssssssssssssssss**

"Now stand up, _slowly._ "

Starscream did as he was told. Knockout took notes and then walked up to him.

"How's your pede? Any extra pain or tingling perhaps?"

"Yes. Both."

"Where?"

"The ankle-joint." Knockout wrote that down as well. "Can you take a step forward?" He could, though not without help. His balance were almost completely gone. He hated it.

"Alright, sit down again." Fall was probably the better word, but he did get down.

Knockout had been here a groon already. Asking questions, taking notes and giving instructions. Starscream complied without a complaint. He didn't feel like complaining. He didn't feeling like doing anything. He just wanted to get out of the medbay. And away from the ship, and especially away from the autobots. But he couldn't. Not with his wing broken and completely useless. Knockout said it was still too soon to say anything for certain, but Starscream knew. How, he didn't know and it didn't matter. He knew he wouldn't fly again.

"Okay, I think that's it for now. I'll come again later to scan you, but from the looks of things you are recovering as well as one can hope for." Knockout put down his datapad and looked at him for a moment.

"What?" Starscream didn't meet his gaze.

"You've been quiet."

"Yes, and you're finish is red."

"You're never quiet."

"I am now."

Knockout liften an optic ridge. "I'm a doctor Starscream, not a psychic."

"And the reason you're telling me this is because?"

Knockout vented, "I can tell something's bothering you, but if you want my help you have to do what you do best, that is using you vocal chords, and tell me."

Starscream raised his helm and met Knockout's optics. "Perhaps I don't want your help." He didn't know what made Knockout feel like he had to help him, but there wasn't anything he could do other than get him back on his pedes.

Knockout wasn't taken back, but it didn't look like he really believed him. He did leave though. Starscream didn't lie down, but stayed sitting on the edge of his berth. It still hurt, but he was so tired of looking at the ceiling.

He knew the refugees had come and mostly accepted the plan the Autobots had made. Right now they were working on a way to give everyone work that would help them rebuild Cybertron. Knockout had been there when they all arrived and came back after most of the things were in order. He said there were other doctors and patients and that he soon would have some 'roommates'. Oh joy. They hadn't arrived here yet, and he was fine with that. He just hoped that he soon would be able to walk properly, that way he could spend most of his time away from the medbay.

 _Then what?_

Then...something. Someone would give him work, or chores or whatever and he would get something to pass his time with. However, he feared they would assign him to look for energon since that was his job before the war. He'd done a lot of that during the war too, but… he was sick of it to put it blunt. Sadly, there wasn't much else he could do. Perhaps he could ask, but saying he 'didn't want to' probably wouldn't be good enough. He would have to wait and see.

He could hear pedesteps outside from several bots. Might be some of the drones, or the refugees getting acquainted with the ship. He could hear it wasn't from any newsparks. They were all still too small to make too much noise while walking. As he thought of newsparks he wondered about Rodimus. Soundwave had, for some unknown reason, sent him a live feed of what happened at the well. The speeches and the reactions. Had Rodimus seen it too? He asked many questions about Megatron, and that speech would have been a treasure to his quriosity.

Rodimus had been ordered to stay away from him for a few orbital cycles, so Starscream knew he wouldn't see him for a while. Maybe, with all the new bots arriving, Rodimus would forget about him? Wouldn't surprise him. There wasn't much about Starscream that was worth remembering for a newspark. Especially the way he was now. Though, at the same time he wouldn't be surprised if he did come back. Rodimus seemed to be of the stubborn kind.

Starscream heard the door open. He turned and saw a red and white Autobot standing in the doorway. A mech, probably a doctor of some sort. He looked surprised at the sight of Starscream. "Ultra Magnus informed us we could use the Medbay for our patients, as our own is full." Starscream did say anything, and the Autobot moved on. He, along with a few other doctors, places their patients on the rest of the berths. No one else seemed to care about him. He noticed, not surprisingly, that there was only Autobots. No decepticons. Not that he cared so much for his fellow soldiers, but he would have felt less out of place if there were some from his faction as well.

The Autobots continued whatever they were doing and Starscream continued what he was doing: nothing. As the Autobots started to get settled, he noticed a shadow in the corner of his optic and looked towards the door. Speaking of his faction, Soundwave stood there. And more importantly, he was watching him. _I suppose some things never change_ , and despite himself, Starscream was thankful for that. He didn't know how long he'd been standing there, Soundwave hadn't made any sound as usual. None of the Autobots had noticed him, too busy with their own work.

"Was there anything you wanted Soundwave?" He said, a little louder than necessary in order to make everyone else in the room look at him. They did and stopped their work some even dropped a tool. Soundwave wasn't bothered by it of course. He simply kept his gaze on Starscream a moment longer before walking away.

The Autobots continued on their tasks, but Starscream could hear their mumbles of how creepy it felt to know Soundwave was around - hah, they didn't know the half of it - and could feel their gazes resting on him. But, he didn't care. Why should he? It's ot like he wasn't used to attention, of all sorts. He did care about the fact that Soundwave had been watching him though. He had done that since the time Starscream had shown interest in the Decepticons, and probably would until the day one of them, or both for that matter, died. But after Megatron's visit, he wondered if he was watching him too, through Soundwave that was. He always seemed to know everything about Starscream's whereabouts even though he had done everything in order to prevent that. But if that was the case, what were they looking for then? A sign that he was betraying them? Getting back to old ways? Or were they simply watching over him to make sure he didn't do anything he shouldn't?

Heh, whatever it was, it wouldn't be anything interesting. His pede hurt and his balance was scrap, so he wouldn't be going anywhere alone for a while. He also wouldn't be able to fly again, and was therefore a very easy target for anyone who wanted to hurt him, especially the Predacons. In other words: he had nothing to gain by going back to his old ways. Not this time.

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 **I know this one is shorter than my previous ones, but I** **feel like it's good enough.**

 **I hope you all have had a good summer, and that School/job or whatever you might be doing this fall is going as planned :) I just started university, and it's defently going to to take up a lot of time, but I hope to make a schedule for writing(not** **necessarily** **posting) regulary... Well see how that goes. Anyway, thank you for being you and keep at it!**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	24. Chapter 24

**Look! There's another chapter!**

 **Of course a new chapter means more grammar mistakes! (Sorry, and feel free o report them)**

 **Transformers belongs to Hasbro**

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Kup walked down the halls of the Nemesis after Bumblebee. After 3 groons, he had finally been allowed to talk to Ultra Magnus. The speech and the enthusiasm to most bots and cons hadn't changed his mind on the matter: it was a waste of time at best, and suicide at worst.

They had to walk in zigzag most of the way since the halls were swarming with bots. Some waiting for orders of what to do, others on their way out to fulfill them, and even newsparks! It was such a long time he had seen them he almost did know who they were. Tiny pieces of metal with pedes running around with more energy than what should be allowed. Someone at the other end of the hall were trying to gather them, but with little luck: they ducked under arms and wings and ran in between legs of the bigger bots. Kup knew the struggles. He had had the honor of training younglings at the beginning of the war. What a mess! Best part of it was punishing them after he had let them break some rules.

As they got closer to the bridge, the halles cleared up. He had to be honest, he wouldn't have found the way on his own. The halls looked all the same and there were little to no windows to navigate where you were. He silently wondered how long it had taken Bumblebee learn which corridor ended where.

Ultra Magnus wasn't the only one on the bridge. A blue femme, Bulkhead, and Wheeljack were talking with him, while Soundwave, the Soundwave, worked on something at the computers. Alone. Kup decided to drop the pleasantries.

"Have you lost your processor!?" Everyone, except Soundwave, turned to look at him.

"What do you mean?" Ultra Magnus answered him. As usual he was calm. It was something Kup always had considered a good thing, his ability to remain calm, but right now it was annoying. He shouldn't be calm in a situation like this.

"You know very well what I mean: letting the Decepticons go free!"

Ultra Magnus looked at the Autobots around him, "Why don't you help Smokescreen gather the newsparks? I will com. you should I need you back."

"Sure."

"Yes, sir."

They all turned and walked past Kup, silently telling him it would be no use. He didn't listen of course.

"You may go as well Soundwave." That was the first time Soundwave moved since Kup came in. He nodded towards Ultra Magnus and then followed the others out the door.

"So he listenes to you now? How long have you been pals?" Kup walked all the way up to Ultra Magnus, staring him right in the optics. "Last time I checked he was loyal to Megatron and no one else."

"Soundwave agreed to help us rebuild Cybertron, and in return we would pardon him for his crimes during the war."

"That's just it! The war! That they, the Decepticons, started! I thought I knew you, but the Ultra Magnus I know would never have made such a stupid and mad decision."

Ultra Magnus didn't answer right away. "Would you rather we punish them all?"

Kup couldn't believe his audio receptors, but knew they were in perfect order despite his age, "Yes! I want them to be punished for everything they've done, we all want that. How can you expect that we all forget everything that has happened?"

Ultra Magnus shook his helm. "I don't expect anyone to forget Kup. But I hoped you would be able to try to move on." He looked over to the computer Soundwave had worked on. It was still on, and they could both see a list of names of every refugee registered so far. There kept popping new names as more were registered through stations put up around the ship, both inside and outside. "Nearly half of the refugees are Decepticons. Where are we supposed to put them? In cells? What do we do when they are full?"

"I don't know." He started pacing back and forth. "But pardoning them Ultra Magnus? It's just a fancy way to say you forgive them. Is that something you really do? Every wound they've inflicted on you, every friend they've taken away, every lifeless husk you've had to leave behind to get to safety? Can you really forgive them for that?" Kup couldn't. Never. He had lost so many friends, young and old. The thought of their killers going free made him sick.

Ultra Magnus took his time to answer. Meanwhile, Kup stopped his pacing he returned to his place in front of Ultra Magnus. He could tell that the commander was thinking hard of what to say.

"No." Came the answer. "I cannot forgive them, any of them. But we are already a split race, Kup. How can we move on from the war if we're going to lock away half of every Cybertronian who've survived?"

"How are we supposed to move on if we can't be _safe_? You know we can't trust the Decepticons, but still you set them free. Among the newsparks of all things! What will you do if one of them gets hurt? Ask-"

"I will not let it come to that." Ultra Magnus interrupted him. His expression changed from calm to stern, and his voice did so too. "The Decepticons will be given assignments and are obliged to do them. They have to report to their officers, Autobots, who will then report to Megatron and I. If we see anyone avoiding their assignments, they will be punished." He stopped for a moment, realising he had somewhat lost his composure. Kep realised he had hit a sore subject, but didn't blame Ultra Magnus for the reaction. He was actually glad he had reacted for once. The newsparks safety should not be taken lightly. "The Decepticons will be given a new chance, but it ends there. I will take no chances with the newsparks. I wish for them nothing but the best."

"Well could you please explain how this is the best then? Because all I see is trouble. Lots of it." Kup crossed his arms.

"We all had a part in the war. If we don't let them see that, if we only point digits and blame the Decepticons, they will make the same mistakes our ancestors did. And the war will have changed nothing." Ultra Magnus places a servo on Kup's shoulder. "I know this is difficult, and I understand why you disagree, but we must to try. Optimus would have done the same."

"Yeah, and I would've gone against it just as much." Kup grumbled. He couldn't understand what possessed Ultra Magnus, ot any of the Autobots. The Decepticons signed their fate long ago, it was only right they payed for it. But, he realised now wasn't the time to argue against it. Everyone was either on the edge or exited about the new truce.

"You're right, I don't like this." When everyone had calmed down and started to wake up, he would try again. With backup.

"I want guard duty - as an officer, somewhere there'll be a lot of traffic. I'll report to you directly." Trouble was most likely going to happen somewhere public and packed. He wanted to be there when it happened. Both to make sure it stops before anyone gets hurt, and to prove his point.

Ultra Magnus looked surprised, but then nodded. "That can be arranged." He stopped for a moment. "If you report to me, that also means you report to Megatron."

"Don't push it." Kup almost hissed, "I don't trust any of them, him less than anyone else." Kup turned around and walked out. Just before the doors opened, he stopped and looked back. "I hope you know what you're doing Ultra Magnus."

The tall mech met his otics. "So do I."

Ssssssssssssssss

Blitzwing stood in line with his fellow Decepticons, waiting for his turn to get registred and, hopefully, a job of some if it was just a small, temporary job he'd take it. Standing around and doing nothing wasn't really his thing.

After Ultra Magnus' and Megatron's speech they had all moved to The Nemesis and the little shelters, or whatever they were supposed to be, the Autobots had build. They, not sure who 'they' were really, had somehow organized everyone into groups, each with a high ranking Autobot giving them orders and taking their names. They had to get registered so the high ups knew who was here and what they could do, and then they would start rebuilding Cybertron. With everyone doing their part and all that Autobot stuff. It sounded a bit too soft for him, now that they had gotten started he was going to give it a shot.

"So." He heard Onslaught say. The blue and green mech had turned around to look at Blitzwing, as he stood in front of him, and looked like he didn't really know what to think. Like the rest of them. "Any opinions?"

Blitzwing looked at a row of Autobots standing closer to the shelters. "I once read a story about how working together could create miracles…" He didn't need to say more about that since every Decepticon felt the same. "And I've recognised 173 Autobots that I've met in battle." His looked over at another row of Autobots. "174." Onslaught chuckled.

"Yeah, same here. And some of them have recognised me too. If looks could kill…" Blitzwing nodded. It would have made the war much more interesting, too. "Though, still better than that stupid ship. One more groon and would have gone mad."

"I hear that." Came the voice of Dirge. He stood in front of Onslaught, or behind now that Onslaught had turned to talk to Blitzwing, but walked to his side to join their chat. Onslaught looked at him. "You? You could just take a flight outside to get some free time. I was stuck inside with everyone else."

"Take a flight when? The high ups didn't let me lose for one klik, always having something that needed to be done. And when we caught up with the Autobot ship they didn't let anyone out anyway to make sure the Autobtos didn't think we were attacking." That had been some tense groons. They didn't think it was real, the truce, but they didn't want to jinx it either, resulting in everyone recharging with the weapons drawn.

"Hopefully we get some air time now that we're finally here." Blitzwing looked up, "Though I don't see that happening right now." The skys was clear from both clouds, which was a good sign on cybertron, and flyers.

"You really think they'll let us just go around and do our own thing? 'Cause I don't." Onslaught said. "Sure, they're letting us go unpunished and giving us jobs, but letting us free? That's another thing."

"I agree with you." Dirge answered him. "What else is there to expect really? We just ended the war. A truce is one thing, trusting each other," He pointed behind him with his thumb, indicating the Autobots, "is not just something we can decide."

Blitzwing nodded in agreement. After trying to kill each other for so long, trusting one another was like asking a groundbot to fly: he would crash and burn. At least until he changed his frame, and that would take time.

"Our leaders looked pretty relaxed though, working together and all." He said, remembering.

"Yeah. Thought I was dreaming. And especially when Megatron started on that story."

"What story?" A small and definitely young voice came from behind Blitzwing. He, along with his comrades, turned around. Three newsparks, one blue, one green and one orange, was all looking up at them. No one said anything.

"What story did Megatron tell you?" The orange one, the one who had asked them earlier, spoke. Blitzwing didn't know what his comrades was thinking, but he would guess it went along the line of 'why are they here?' and 'they're tiny'.

"Hello? Can you hear us?" The green one waved his arms around, like one would do to check someone's sight capability, not their audio-receptors.

Onslaught leaned forward, towering over all of them. "We're not deaf pipsqueak."

"Hey! It's Springer, not pipsqueak!" He took a step forward as if it would make him threatening. It didn't. It did make Onslaught grin though.

"Close enough." That made Springer mad, which looked really funny since he wasn't threatening in any way. An insecticon would have more luck looking cute.

Blitzwing looked over at the other two while Springer attempted to stare down Onslaught, the latter have a very good time. "What's your names then?"

To Blitzwing's surprise, the blue one didn't just say his name. "I'm-Blurr-and-this-is-my-friend-Rodimus-who-was-asking-you-a-question-before-my-other-friend-Springe-said-"hello"-and-now-he's-mad-at-your-friend-for-calling-him pipsqueak-even-though-he's-not-smaller-than-a-regular-newspark-and-I-know-that-because-I'm-a-newspark-and-me-and-Springer-are the-same-height." Blurr didn't even blink.

The orange one just nodded, "What he said." Blitzwing looked back and forth between them. He hadn't gotten much out of the stream of words, except for 'Blurr', 'Rodimus' and 'pipsqueak'.

"Well if I knew what he said I might be able to say something back." He heard Dirge laugh behind him. As if he could've done any better.

"He reminded you that I asked a question: Which story did Megatron tell you?" He wasn't sure how t answer that. There was no way he was going to retell it, but how to shorten it down in an understandable way? He looked at Dirge.

He made an attempt, "Uh, about rescuing the Allspark?" Yeah, that sounded good. Others around him, who had grown interesting in the tiny bots talking to big Decepticons, agreed saying: 'Yeah that's the one.' and thing like that.

"We already know that one." Springer said, still standing next to Onslaught. "Megatron told Rodimus before he told you, and then he told us." He smiled and crossed his arms as if that was a big feat. Part of it was, at least in Blitzwing's mind.

"Megatron… told you?" He looked down at Rodimus. When had Megatron found it fitting to tell a newspark a story, or even spend time with him?

Rodimus nodded. "Mhm, we're good friends."

A klik past. Two kliks. And then laughter. A mocking laughter, that made others who hadn't heard or seen them talking look over. Mocking because, Megatron didn't have friends, and he certainly wasn't friends with some newspark.

"What's-so-funny-I-didn't-hear-any-joke-so-why-are-you-laughing-when-there-is-nothing-to-laugh-about-that-is-weird." Blurr said something again, but this time Blitzwing didn't get anything. He was still laughing.

"Oh, that's a good one! Hehe, thanks kid!" Onslaught said, the first one to stop laughing.

"It's true!" Rodimus said, "We were talking before you came to Cybertron."

Blitzwing smiled, enjoying the image of Mighty Megatron talk with a newspark that barely reached his knees. "Sorry kid, but Megatron don't spend time with just about anyone. He has a job to do, you know?"

"He's telling the truth! We met them right before Megatron left." Springer said, pointing in the direction of the well of Allsparks. "You're calling us liars?"

"Yeah, we are." Onslaught leaned in really close pointing his digit it Springer. "'Cause we know he has better things to do than spend time with pipsqueaks like you."

Springer glared back at him, and it was a good glare considering his was so young. Red optics would have helped though. "I told you! I'm **not** a pipsqueak!" What happened next was absolutely amazing.

Springer swung his arm around and hit Onslaught in the knee joint. It wasn't a big hit, Onslaught had taken much worse, but it had somehow struck a nerve in the joint that made Onslaught fall over. On Dirge, which then made him fall too.

"Oufh!" They ended up in a tangled mess thanks to Dirge's wings right in front of Springer. For a moment it looked like he was going to gloat, but then Onslaught looked up at him and the newspark realised what he had done.

"We gotta run guys!" None of the newsparks hesitated and in a speed that impressed Blitzwing, who could fly, they ran away and disappeared in a crowd of Autobots. No one tried to stop them. Firstly because they had orders to get registred, and running after newsparks would give 'someone' the wrong idea. Secondly because watching Dirge and Onslaught untangle was the best thing this orbital cycle. Rodimus claiming to be Megatron's friend was a good second. Because really? Who did he think he was?

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 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and feel free to tell me what you thing. Or what you don't think. It's your choice.**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	25. Chapter 25

**Yay, an update! This chapter is a bit weird by the way, but I jope you like it.**

 **As usual, grammer isn't perfect. If you find the mistakes, tell me in a review**

 **-o-o-o-o-**

The recruiting was going as well as one could expect. Fights happened every orbital cycle, bots from both sides broke the rules and the cells very slowly filling up. It was very unrealistic, but deep down Smokescreen had hoped that last part wouldn't be necessary. It would be so nice if they could just focus on rebuilding Cybertron. No fights, no wondering who might get hurt next. Keeping the newsparks out of the loop was a challenge, but so far it didn't seem like the had noticed.

The first time a fight had been reported, they all rushed to stop it. That Megatron would be the first to arrive was, frankly, a surprise. Smokescreen guessed they - he - still didn't fully see how much he wanted the peace to last. He hadn't even taken a klik to take in the situation. He walked right into the fight and separated two bots, one Decepticon and one Autobot, by grabbing them by their shoulders and throwing them away from each other, and into other 'bots and 'cons. The fight stopped in an instant.  
Smokescreen knew Megatron hadn't led the Decepticons the same way Optimus had led the Autobots, but seeing it was something else. He demanded respect by just standing there, and his optics pierced through anyone who didn't show it to him, even the Autobots. He asked a question, and expected an answer without any hesitation. Optimus had always acted like a part of the team, while Megatron set a clear and thick line between subordinate and leader with every action.  
And for a few moments, Smokescreen was scared. He could still remember falling from the Nemesis with Megatron just behind him. He'd felt the anger burn like flames, just ready to consume him.

Though, when the fight was over and the assigned guards began their part of the job, Megatron stepped down and turned back to the calmer mech he'd been the last orbital cycles. No uncontrollable rage, no fight with the guards or Ultra Magnus about how they should do the job. He just stepped down. And when he turned and looked at the rest of them, he knew exactly what they were thinking about him. Ultra Magnus addressed his tactics, saying it might not be the best when addressing the Autobots. Megatron answered, respectfully, that it was the only way to address the Decepticons.  
Smokescreen hadn't payed much attention to their reaction, but when he thought about it they didn't show the same fear the Autobots had. The Autobots, along with himself, were scared. The Decepticons weren't scared. They feared Megatron the same way anyone feared their leader: in a respectful way. You didn't want to do anything against your leader because he was you leader. Sure, Megatron had gained that respect through the wrong means, but that didn't change the fact that he had it. If he'd acted another way, the Decepticons might begin to see him differently, and then who would lead them? The Autobtos needed Ultra Magnus as their leader because he was someone they could look up to, someone they could trust. And Megatron was still the same to the Decepticons.

Smokescreen was unsure of how he felt about it, he could still feel the fear wake up whenever Megatron stepped into his old leader role, but Megatron never overstepped the line that made them believe he wasn't on their side. He did his part of the job, and then it was over. Smokescreen _wanted_ to trust Megatron, he wanted it to be true that he'd changed, he wanted the war to be over. When training at the Autobot academy, he'd learned that it wasn't his job to make sure someone deserved his trust, but if and when they earned his trust, he owed them all of it. He was trying to do that now. Megatron deserved some of his trust, Smokescreen had no problem admitting that, but after everything he'd done during the war, earning all of it would take some time.

-o-o-o-o-

Like every time he was done with a check up on Starscream, he had a ache in his processor. But, like the last few times, it was worse than usual. Starscream wasn't, well, Starscream. He barely complained, he barely even talked. The only one who got him to talk was Rodimus, and it wasn't really the topics Knockout wanted him to talk about. 'How are you really feeling', 'what's bothering you' and 'what will help you get out of this pitiful, pathetic state of mind' wasn't questions for a newspark to bring up, but Knockout was starting to hope he would.

He was spending more and more time with team Prime, and he found himself enjoying it. Of course he spent just as much time with old friends among the Decepticons, but it was a long time since he last made new friends. It gave him a funny but nice feeling, especially since they were his enemies not to long ago. He spent a little more time with Arcee than the rest, they both knew something about the other no one else did, and it was nice to have someone who understood. Not just about being alone, but she lost partners too and she knew what it felt like suddenly not have the idiot around to annoy you. They hadn't really talked about their losses, but it was just under the surface. They understood each other.

But, despite their growing friendship, Knockout couldn't talk to her about Starscream. Not just because she hated him, but he'd told her that because he was a doctor, he wouldn't tell anyone about their little talk. He couldn't be a good doctor to her and then no one else. And, if he told others secrets to her, she would definitely think he'd tell hers to others once she wasn't around. He didn't want to lose her friendship.  
He could legally tell the other doctors about Starscream condition, but they wouldn't truly understand why it was so serious. There was only one who would understand, and Knockout wouldn't be breaking any rules by telling him either since he was his and Starscream's leader, but by the Allspark he didn't want to talk to him.

He'd talked in Megatron's favor that orbital cycle Smokescreen brought up the recruiting idea, and he didn't think any of it would've worked if Megatron hadn't joined them, but with the history between them, and especially between Megatron and Starscream, that conversation would be too awkward. Starscream was a fighter, he had survived worse things than this. And Knockout was a good doctor. He'd continue on working like he did now, and if, _if_ , it got worse, he would contact Megatron.

-o-o-o-o-

Bulkhead was on edge, figuratively and literally speaking. Literally because he was checking the work on of the buildings the happened to be on the fifth floor - it wasn't a floor yet, but it would be as soon as he approved the work they'd done on the railings. Figuratively because the ones who'd done the work he was inspecting was the Constructicons.

They'd been the first to put down their weapons and join their new plan, but Bulkhead couldn't help but be on edge when around them. He blamed that on the long war were they'd tried to kill each other. On their work, he couldn't be anything but impressed. Everything they'd been ordered to do, they'd done. They worked fast, but didn't hurry. If something needed extra time in order to be done right, they took the time that was needed. Sometimes they worked on separate projects, sometimes on the same one. When working together, it was like they shared the same mind. They fought and complained over each other like any other team, but it never affected their work.

But, sometimes Bulkhead would catch one of them looking lost or confused. Other times they would look around annoyed before seemingly realising something and continue their work. He knew there'd been six Constructicons when they first gained their name, but now they were just four. They were 'cons, they'd done horrible things, but they were also sentient beings, as Optimus used to put it, and they had feelings. It's not that Bulkhead thought they didn't feel, but seeing them react the exact same he had when losing someone was… strange.  
Of course he had seen some 'cons that really were different. He'd looked them in the optics and seen absolutely nothing, but the Constructicons weren't like that.

Bulkhead didn't trust them, but when thinking about all the work they had in store, it was good to know they were on the same side. And they had the ability to communicate with the drones and actually get them to do their job. Why they listened to them and not him he didn't know, but for now he would be happy they were getting somewhere.

-o-o-o-o-

Apparently, recruiting the Decepticons had worked. They experienced fights and complaints, but nothing that wasn't to be expected. Ratchet didn't know how to feel. Happy for his friends or miserable for himself. He was glad the war was over, by heavens he was glad! But he missed Optimus. He missed the entire team. He missed shouting at Bulkhead and joking to Arcee, complaining about Bumblebee racing inside and the talks with Optimus.

But at the same time he enjoyed having some time alone to just think. He hadn't had time to do that in so long. Not on the same scale as now. He was thinking about Optimus and his sacrifice, he was thinking about the good times with the children and about Cybertrons reawakening. But mostly, he was grieving. Not just over Optimus, but all of the friends he'd lost during the war. He regrettably couldn't remember all of them, but he felt them. Or what was left of them. It was a feeling of an empty part in his spark that he just knew had once been filled by someone.

The feeling of losing someone you care about were so familiar to Ratchet he almost didn't recognize himself without it. The first times a friend died he had allowed himself time to grieve, but that time only proved to be wasted because soon someone else was gone too. So when someone then died, he would be sad and hurt, but he wouldn't stop his work. He had to continue because he could save someone else that sorrow, he could give someone else a reason to continue.  
Sometimes he failed, and that hurt, but he didn't give up. He continued to the moment it all ended and now he finally had time to just grieve.

Sometimes the grieving was a moment of silence or a little pause in his work. Other times - and he would never tell anyone about that part - he broke down into a complete mess. It wasn't pretty, or even sane, but he'd hid those feelings away for so long it was a relief to finally let them go. He never showed any of the humans working with him that he was in fact grieving over more friends than he could remember, but they helped him through it. When he wanted to have 'break' from it, he would ask if the needed his help and they always had something extra for him to do. It was a strange way of handling it all, but from a doctor's perspective, he believed he needed it.

And when he was done, when he didn't _not_ understand how to feel, he could visit Cybertron. Not just for a few groons, but several orbital cycles. He would meet the rest of the team, and old friends he hadn't seen in several vorns. And maybe, just maybe, he would even be okay with the Decepticons being there too.

-o-o-o-o-

There was chaos and order at the same time. Hope and fear, happiness and anger. Old friends met while their enemies watched. No one knew what to expect, but everyone knew what to do. And in the middle of it all the newsparks observed and took in what they could, interpreting everything in their own way. The Autobots, and Megatron, were doing everything in their power to keep them out of the fights and danger zones, but it was impossible to shield them all from everything.

Soundwave could see, hear and feel all of this. Very little escaped him and he would often find out about those things later. The Autobots tried to hide from him, and while the Decepticons didn't like his everlasting presence they knew it was futile to hide. Everything of importance he would report to Megatron, like always, and Ultra Magnus. What they then decided to do was up to them. If they needed his help he would give it to them, but his main job was to observe. Communication with other ships was a part of that job, and he did that part flawlessly.

…

Usually he knew what to expect, but now was one of those times he didn't. He could tell those newsparks would sneak out tonight, and that mech would collapse on his berth in a few cycles, but he didn't know what would happen with the situation as a whole. The fact that the war was over was sinking into everyone, and they were happy about it, but finding out how to act around their enemies was a challenge. There were a few, very few, who had been friends before the war that now decided to talk again. It didn't go without any problems, but those few made it possible for the others to be a bit less tense around each other. A few others who didn't know each other also started communicating, only about trivial things like "pass me the drill" and "we have to check for energon over here", but it was much better than a gun in the faceplate.

Soundwave had had little faith in the entire plan, but he could see there was hope it would work. Slowly, true, but the war had lasted for fifty thousand vorns. And considering it was only eight orbital cycles since the refugees arrived, they were ahead of schedule.

 **-o-o-o-o-**

 **I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story**


	26. Chapter 26

**Feeling like I need to say something, but don't know what to say...**

 **Anyway, there's still grammar mistakes and I still don't own Transformers. Hasbro does.**

 **-o-o-o-o-**

There were literally hundreds of them. And they were everywhere. They were working with Bulkhead and the drones outside, they were scouting for energon, coming and going all the time, they were patrolling the halls - Rodimus didn't know what for but that wasn't his job anyway - and they were talking. Not just on break or in special places, but everywhere. There were noise everywhere and all the time, even during the night! And it was amazing.

He and the other newsparks were talking with them too, and they never ran out of stories. Stories about spying, stories about fighting, stories about winning and losing, everything they could think of. Why had the autobots - or team Prime as everyone called them - never told them any of this? It was so exciting! Of course, Rodimus had gotten a lot of info out of them, but they never seemed happy to share that much. The refugees on the other hand were more than happy to share a story, even when they were working.

The first orbital cycles, most of the newsparks just talked with the Autobots, leaving the Decepticons alone. But they started to talk a little with them, and now they barely noticed they were of different factions. Springer, Blurr and himself had been walking around outside the ship the orbital cycle they all came, and stumbled over the three decepticons talking. Though it had been fun seeing the big one fall, and he still wanted to prove to them he was friends with Megatron, he avoided them whenever he saw them. Springer and Blurr hadn't seen them either and agreed it was best to stay away from them. What if they told the Autobots they had been away from class? They would really be in trouble then.

Many of the Decepticons where ruffer and told scarier stories than the Autobots, but some of the newsparks actually liked that. Though, they often had to agree not to let the Autobots, especially Team Prime, know about it. Like when Brawl - if Rodimus remembered correctly - told them about a battle where he split an Autobot in two. Rodimus hadn't asked him for more stories since - Springer on the other hand…

He was on his way to the medbay to visit Starscream. He hadn't been allowed back to the medbay for five orbital cycles after the refugees came, but had managed to stay out of trouble, ergo: he hadn't been caught since then. Now, sixteen orbital cycles later, he liked to visit him around noon. They often had a long break from studies then, when they had studies, and it was just a nice time to come. By that time, Starscream would have gotten enough recharge and Knockout was often done with his checks and whatever other things he did. The first few times Starscream seemed surprised and a little shocked. Now though, he looked pretty okay with Rodimus being there. He never said a word to any of the other patients, doctors or visitors in the medbay, and was always sitting on his berth away from the others. Starscream didn't like being alone, Rodimus had figured that much out, but he didn't want just any company either. It was weird, especially since he didn't think anyone else visited Starscream.

The doors opened with the normal 'swish' sound and revealed a packed medbay. Every sick-berth was taken, and there were always at least three doctors there looking over everything. This time it was four: Knockout with Starscream, First Aid with a new femme, and Flatline and Red Alert who appeared to actually be talking to each other while looking over their patients.

Most didn't look up as he entered since they were used to him being there around this time. He did give a wave to the femme though, since she didn't know him.

Knockout was writing something down as Starscream walked around near his berth. He was getting better, but his balance was still really bad: he walked really slowly and had problems going straight. He had asked once why, but Starscream said it was nothing. It was something, but he didn't want to talk about it. Maybe he was embarrassed? Anyone could walk, and not being able to do it right wasn't really fun.

"Hey guys." He said when he got close enough.

"Hey Roddy." Knockout answered without looking away from his writing. Starscream stopped at his berth and used it to keep his balance. He looked tired. "Hello Rodimus."

"You're getting better." Starscream huffed as if he didn't believe it. He did that everytime Rodimus or Knockout said anything good about his health.

"He is right, you know. You've improved a lot: you're pede is completely healed, there is no way it could get any better, the same goes for your inner wounds. The only thing left is to help you walk normally again." Knockout said while turning around.

"What about flying?" Knockout stopped on his way to a computer, frozen in midstep, which looked a bit funny. "Aren't you going to help him with that?"

"Of course!" Knockout glanced over at Starscream, but he didn't say anything. "What I meant was; the only thing left before he can leave the medbay, is to help him walk again. He can't fly in here now can he?" No, that wouldn't work. It would be really stupid. Maybe he could hover, but he couldn't move around in here.

He walked over to Starscream. "Is it okay if I sit?" He gestured to the berth. Starscream nodded. The berth was too tall for Rodimus, so he had to climb up on it, but it was kind of cool to suddenly feel taller. Starscream remained standing though.

"Are you tired?" He looked like it.

"A little." He gestured to Knockout. "He came two groons ago." Rodimus grimaced. That's a lot of time to have someone ordering you around.

"Is he done now?"

"I believe so." Starscream shifted a bit and leaned against the berth with his back. "Anything interesting in your studies?" Rodimus shook his helm.

"No, not this time. We're just having math. It's okay." Math wasn't his favorite subject, but he didn't hate it either. It just got really boring over time. Luckily they had another teacher though. Or, several new teachers, since they were so many newsparks. There was Neon, a tall and sturdy mech who _didn't_ have a neon coloured finish - unless you count dark green and and grey as neon. He'd worked with a lot of younglings before and during the war, so he knew how to handle them. He taught them about social rules, whatever was left as he said, and trained them. A little self-defence, but mostly games in order to get out all their energy. Marine, a femme with the same height and personality as Bulkhead. A teacher-turned-wrecker… Turned back to teacher. She mostly taught them how to read and write and about different dialects, even though there weren't that many left. She said it was important to understand what other bots said even though they spoke a little different than you. Last there was Azo. He had been a history and math professor before the war, so that was what he taught them. He was calm, not that the two others were wild, but he made the newsparks calmer by just being calm himself. It was weird, but it was helpful too. Studying in a noisy room wasn't always easy.

"Hm," Starscream answered. "How far have you gotten into it?"

"Um, we learned how to multiply some larger numbers just now, if that's what you mean." Starscream nodded. "Did you have math when you had studies?"

Starscream nodded again. "It was called school back then. Before we were assigned to a cast we had school with newsparks our age, no matter who they were, and learned the basics, including math. After I was assigned, I only learned what would be necessarily within the line of work I had. It was some math, along with geology, how to fly quickly without using too much fuel and similar things." Rodimus had learned a lot more about Cybertron before the war from Starscream then from Azo. Not that he was a bad teacher, but most of what he told, Rodimus already knew.

"Did you like to learn those things?" Rodimus knew geology had something with the ground to do, and that sounded really boring.

"I liked to learn, but not always what they taught us there." Rodimus turned as someone lost something on the other side ot the medbay. It made a big "clank" sound, but nothing broke. He turned back to Starscream, who hadn't moved, "You liked to learned about the universe, and energy stuff, right?" He hadn't said it directly, but Rodimus had gathered that from many answers to many questions.

"Yes. And I did on my own, whenever the opportunity arose". There was a little hint of pride in his voice.

"Did you have any friends you studied with? You couldn't have been the only one who wanted to something different that energon searching?"

Starscream looked away. "No." he said. "Not that I know of. I was alone."

That sounded really sad. And lonely. "Weren't here anyone else?"

Starscream frowned in thought. "There was one mech, not from my cast, that I considered a friend. He was a scientist, and we shared some interests." Rodimus shifted so he faced Starscream, whom also looked back at him. This was the first time Starscream had mention on ever having a friend, which was kind of worrying, but at the same time Starscream liked to keep some secrets.

"Who was he? What happened to him?"

"His name was Skyfire. He was a very calm meck, I almost never saw him angry or upset, though he could get serious when needed. I don't know what happened to him as he joined the Autobots. I never saw him in battle, though I'm not surprised, he was never one for fighting."

"What did he look like?" Maybe he was here? Maybe he wanted to become friends with Starscream again? That would be really nice, and Starscream would have someone else to talk to, about more complicated stuff.

Starscream looked at him skeptically, as if knowing why he asked. "He was taller than Megatron, a flight bot like me and his colours were mostly white with red on his wings and chassis." Rodimus tried to remember seeing someone looking like that, but he didn't think so. There were so many new bots, but Skyfire sounded like someone easy to spot, and remember.

"I don't think I've seen anyone looking like that. Maybe he's not back yet. I heard there were still more ships on their way home." A lot more in fact, but he didn't know any numbers. No one would tell him, or know one knew.

"I doesn't matter. We haven't talked for nearly fifty thousand vorns, I doubt we would have anything to talk about now."

Rodimus didn't agree, "I'm sure you would find something to talk about. It's not that hard."

Starscream huffed, though something apparently made him smile a little. "What?"

Starscream looked him over, "You talk as if everything is much easier than what it really is."

Rodimus tilted his helm, not really getting what he meant. "Maybe because I'm right?" He asked, he didn't make a point. What would the 'point' be anyway? Talking?

Knockout turned back towards them. "Well, it seems my work here for now is done. I'll be leaving and probably won't be back before tomorrow." He looked firmly - as firmly as one could look while smiling - at both of them. "And I assume I won't find anything or anyone out of place when I get back?" Knockout was still a little mad about that trip to the roof. He hadn't punished Rodimus or anything like that, but he kept reminding them both it was a bad idea then and a bad idea now.

"With so many new friends back home, how do you expect me to stay here?" Starscream said with false complaint. His voice was funny too: a bit higher than usual and softer..

Knockout seemed happy with the sort-of promise to stay here. He shifted his optics to Rodimus and raised an optical ridge.

"I won't take Starscream with me when I leave." That was all he wanted to hear. "Good." He turned around and walked away. "Well, bye bye for now." He said it with a sing-song voice and gave a half-sparked wave with the back of his servo. Then the doors closed behind.

Rodimus liked Knockout. He seemed so happy with himself and what he did. Still though, "Knockout is kinda weird." He looked back at Starscream who shook his helm. "You don't say." Starscream shifted and put some weight on his bad pede, testing it a bit. "Knockout was probably made with a broken mold." He put all his weight on the bad pede, and stood still for a moment. When nothing happened he relaxed a bit. He put one hand behind his back while using the other as he talked. "And then Primus thought it would be fun to watch us all suffer due to his mistake."

"Has he always been like that?"

Starscream nodded, "As long as I've known him. Though that hasn't been very long, thankfully."

"Do you think he was ever different than now?"

"I have my doubts anyone goes through life without changing at all. Even Knockout." Starscream answered. Rodimus couldn't really imagine it. Maybe a Knockout that didn't know so much about medicine and of course smaller, he probably didn't always have so many good come-back remarks either, but a Knockout with a different personality was a weird thing.

Rodimus looked a Starscream. He had to have been different too then. It sounded a little like that when he talked about the time before the war, but Starscream didn't share anything personal. The most personal thing he knew about him, that Starscream had told him, was some of the things he liked, like science, and now about Skyfire. It wasn't really much.

"What about you?" Starscream shifted his weight to the other pede, still relaxed. That must mean nothing hurt.

"What about me?"

"Have you always been like you are now?" For a moment Starscream was gone. He was still there, but it was like his mind disappeared to another universe.

"Of course not."

"What were you like before then?" Maybe he was happier? Starscream didn't smile that much, but Rodimus had noticed there were a lot of bots, from both factions, that didn't really smile much. It was because of the war, some of them had told him. After seeing a lot of bad things, you have problems seeing the good things, Smokescreen had told him. Rodimus could understand that.

Starscream opened his intake, but then closed it as he seemed to realise something. "I don't want to talk about it." He finally said. He spoke low, but not too low. Rodimus could hear him, but there was no way anyone else did.

"Why not?" Rodimus asked.

Starscream spoke even lower this time, but he sounded mad. "I said: I don't want talk about it." He pronounced each word carefully.

"Okay. I'm sorry, I won't ask again." They both went silent. Both staring at the floor. Rodimus tried to find something better to talk about. Something to break the silence. And the tension. He had gotten some annoyed answers, but never mad ones. What did he say wrong?

"Do you want to talk about the stars?" He didn't answer him. He just continued to stare at the floor, thinking hard about something. When he spoke his voice was back to normal.

"I want to be alone." Rodimus quickly turned his helm and looked at Starscream. He had never sent him away before, even though he had been really annoying at times. Instead he'd told him to calm down, or stop with whatever he was doing. Rodimus didn't know how to react.

"I'm really sorry! I promise I won't ask again, we can talk about something else".

Starscream raised his helm and met his optics. "I heard you the first time. I'm tired, and I want to be alone." He was really serious.

Rodimus sat still for a few kliks, but then reacted. Slowly, he climbed down from the berth and took a few steps back just to put some distance between them. None of them said a word as Starscream then sat down himself. Rodimus waited, hoping Starscream would say he didn't have to leave, but he didn't even look at him.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Rodimus said hesitantly. Starscream didn't answer him. Rodimus turned and, understanding absolutely nothing, walked away.

 **-o-o-o-o-**

 **Well! That happened!**

 **Hope you enjoyed, feel free to leave a review (wether that is to complement or not)**

 **Happy new year by the way!**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	27. Chapter 27

**Hey, sorry for the long break. Here's a long chapter for you.**

 **-o-o-o-o-**

Chapter 27

"What happened?" Someone asked, but Starscream didn't listen.

" _Why is that machine making that noise anyway?"_

" _It's a spark monitor. Knockout connected it to my energy signature and every time my spark beats, it makes a noise."_

 _Rodimus listened for a few kliks, tilting his helm to the side. "Is it okay? Your spark I mean."_

" _Knockout didn't say anything, so I would assume yes."_

"Why did Rodimus leave?" Same voice, same reaction.

" _How do you know so much about so many things?" Rodimus looked at him with admiration._

" _I studied for the most part. Or I experienced it."_

" _That must have taken a long time. Didn't it ever get boring?"_

" _Of course, but I didn't always have a choice remember?"_

"Starscream? Did you send him away?"

" _What does flying feel like?" Rodimus looked at Starscream's wings, the right one finally out of it's clamp._

" _Superior." Starscream answered with a smirk. "There is no traffic in the air, nothing that can block your path. In the air, you are free." As much as it bothered him that he wouldn't fly again, he enjoyed talking about it. It was, truly, the superior way of travel, as well as an unfathomable feeling of freedom._

" _Wow. That sounds really cool." Oh, it is. Was._

"Starscream? Answer me." Finally he looked at whoever had questioned him. It was Flatline.

"Yes?"

"Did you send Rodimus away?" He looked impatient.

"Yes."

That hadn't been the answer he wanted to hear. "Why would you do that to him?"

Starscream narrowed his optics, "That, is none of your business." His voice was cold. He wasn't in the mood for this nonsense. "Now, I would like to rest, alone. And you have work to do." For a moment it looked like Flatline would push him further, but then he shook his helm and walked away.

Good. Starscream had enough things on his mind as it was. Like the mess he had gotten himself into. Rodimus asked so many questions, and Starscream liked to answer them. He wanted to answer them. No one had appretiated his knowledge in a long time, and honestly it was nice to be able to prove you were good at something, and not get beaten up because of it. As long as he could avoid certain things, he was happy to just continue on that way. But he nearly slipped up. He had almost said their names.

He didn't talk about them because he didn't want to. He didn't think about them because then he would have to remember they weren't there anymore. He didn't acknowledge that they'd even existed because it wouldn't do any good. Not to him. Not to them.

But he almost told Rodimus just so he could answer a question. He was getting attached to the little glitch, something he didn't want to. He'd just wanted someone to keep him company while healing, but that someone was becoming more and more likeable by the cycle. Though, in all honesty, he was a fool to expect anything else. When someone treats you nicely and visit you every orbital cycle, it's only reasonable you become attached to them. Well, he would just have to end their little friendship before it became too serious. He might have hurt Rodimus, emotionally, but it's not like anyone would expect much else from him. They would be mad for a short time, and then continue one with their lives. Rodimus? He had other friends, and he practically worshiped Megatron. He wouldn't miss Starscream.

What Starscream had to focus on instead was to get out of the medbay. Get as well as he could and stay alive. It wasn't as ambitious as his usual goals, but he would have to start small now that everything had changed. And the first thing he had to do to get out of the medbay, was to learn to walk properly. It was much harder than he'd thought, even with the pain gone. And annoying. One would think wings were only used for flying, but the sensors in them were used all the time. Those who had wings barely noticed it, unless they suddenly didn't have the ability anymore. What Starscream found the most difficult, was finding his balance. So that was what he would have to work on first. He still had one perfectly function wing, along with other sensors who helped with, among other things, balance. If he focused on using them more, instead of thinking about what he couldn't use, he would most definitely learn to walk quicker.

After that, someone would assign him some sort of job, most likely helping them find energon, only without the ability to fly he would probably be stuck by the monitors. He knew how to work them, but it was without a doubt the most boring part of finding energon. You rarely actually found energon, rather you checked the weather, kept up the communications among those out on the field and wrote down the locations where they found energon. He had his doubts anyone would want him to have the responsibility for their communitation, or even want to communicate with him at all.

Another possibility would be digging out the energon they found. Which was, also, a boring and tiresome job. He could be stuck underground or only pick up scraps, all depending on the energon source. And he would have to work in groups of other bots. None of those jobs were preferable, but maybe he'd get lucky. Maybe.

Knockout wasn't questioning him that much anymore, but it was rather clear he didn't consider Starscream mentally healthy either. He wasn't wrong, but Starscream hadn't really been mentally healthy for a long time - who had time for that when there was a war going on? The problem would be if he continued digging. Knockout was usually happy once the patients was out of his medbay and he could continue his life, but he also used to try to kill the Autobots. He didn't want Knockout digging in affairs that wasn't any of his business, but unless he made the good doctor think he was as healthy as he could be that's exactly what would happen. He would have to convince him he was healthy.

Finally, the last thing he had to do, or the one thing he had to do all the time, was to keep an optic out for Soundwave and Megatron. They were watching him, he knew that, but he didn't know how closely. They had their own jobs and responsibility with the refugees, surely they didn't have time to watch his every move? Soundwave did have Laserbeak though, and that minicon did not need help on knowing what it should and should not show Soundwave about Starscream. He looked around wondering if it had seen him just now, but he couldn't be sure. If he had, Soundwave would instantly know why Starscream had sent Rodimus away. Scrap. He shouldn't have reacted the way he did, but there was no changing that. He only had to be careful from now on.  
And while he was, he wanted to find out what the spy and his former leader was looking for. It couldn't just be that they wanted to know what he was up to, could it? Okay, maybe it could considering his past, but it just seemed like a waste of time now that they had more important things to do.

Megatron hadn't 'visited' him since that first night, so Starscream had no idea what he was thinking about any of this. Soundwave on the other hand he had seen. Not as a visitor of course, but sometimes when other came in or out the doors, Starscream had seen him. Sometimes he was walking, not even looking inside the medbay, other times he stood still and if he hadn't had that visor, Starscream knew their optics would have met. Maybe he wanted Starscream to see him, wanted him to know he was being watched. Starscream hadn't doubted it even is Soundwave hadn't made himself visible, but the fact that he had made Starscream sure of it. Whatever reason Soundwave had for watching over him, it was important enough that he deemed it right that Starscream knew he was being watched. He really didn't like Soundwave.

-o-o-o-o-

Megatron was walking just outside of the official worksite. He didn't know that much about construction so there was no use in getting too close where he might be in the way for those who knew what they were doing, but he wanted to see how they were doing. From what he could see, it was going just as planned.

Since they were building rather close to the ruins of Kalis there were groups who simply had the job of tearing down the ruins both to make room and to reuse the metal. What was usable would be melted down and then formed into whatever they needed it for. And now that they had much more workers they were able to work on several projects at the same time. So as well as building small houses for the refugees, they were building a medical center. It wouldn't be perfect, but to have one main center on the ground instead of on the ships would be easier both for the patients and doctors. There they could focus on the minor damages, and send the more severe ones to one of the ships. That way the doctors could focus on one group of patients instead of having the full spectrum, making their work more efficient and less stressful. That was at least what the doctors themselves had said.

There was a few who looked at him nervously, but no one said anything against him being there. Most Autobots and Decepticons stayed away from him, and when someone for whatever reason had to come near him, they made the meeting as short as possible. The Decepticons were used to that, an unwritten rule being that you didn't disturb Megatron more than you absolutely needed unless you were on his good side, which few had been. As for the Autobots, he knew Ultra Magnus had made it clear Megator was on their side so he was allowed to walk where he wished, and most were probably afraid of him.

"Hey Megatron!" Then there was those who were neither Autobot nor Decepticon. He turned around to see six - seven newsparks come towards him. Springer was the one leading the group and he had been the one to shout his name. The rest of the group was mostly watching him, as if he was some object that needed study to be understood. Most newsparks looked at him like that, and it annoyed him. He'd been looked at like that before, and had gotten enough of it quickly. But, they were newsparks. Even though he didn't know much about how to treat them, he knew how to _not_ treat them.

"Springer." He greeted the young mech, as well as the three others he'd met before.

"What're you doing?" A light blue and white femme asked.

"Looking over the construction." He answered curtly.

"Why?" That word, 'why', was every newsparks favorite word. 'Why' this and 'why' that, and sometimes they asked another 'why' after he'd just answered the first one. It was rather quickly losing it's meaning in being a question to the purpose of what you were doing, and instead turned into a bother. But he still answered.

"To make sure everything is in order."

"Is it?"

"So far, yes."

"And that's good?"

"Yes." The newsparks took turns in asking, and Megatron answered all the questions as well as he could. He did find himself hoping they would leave soon though.

"Have you seen Rodimus anywhere?" Springer asked suddenly, interrupting the one called Sideback. He looked a little offended, but didn't do anything else.

"No, not this orbital cycle." He answered Springer. Rodimus had somehow managed to find him nearly every orbital cycle, and followed him around like a drone - with a smile and many questions. He probably shouldn't be surprised after what the Autobots told him about all his questions, but he still was. He was a warlord, a former gladiator, he didn't see why someone like him would be of interest to Rodimus. But, maybe the fact that he was the first bot Rodimus had met, and had saved his life, somehow made him interesting. It wouldn't have been so bad, most of his questions were interesting and he didn't mind answering them, if he didn't talk so much about Starscream. About half of the time Megatron had spent with the seeker had been either with a servo around his throat or a fist crushing his chassis, so talking about him in a nice manner was rather… challenging. He could admit that Starscream had good qualities, there was a reason he'd been made second in command after all, and he could also admit that he had had some temper difficulties, during the war, but so had Starscream and he had deserved at least half of those beatings. He'd even deserved to die too, but Megatron wouldn't go there. It only made him question why he had let him live all those times and he never really had an answer to that. One of the great 'wonders' of the universe.

"He usually is with Starscream this time of the orbital cycle." As he said that he wondered if Rodimus bothered Starscream with questions about him too. He hoped so. He knew the seeker would hate that.

"He was but Starscream told him to leave earlier than he usually does." All of Megatron's attention turned to Springer.

"He did?" Of course, he didn't look or act as if this alarmed him.

"Mhm. Something Rodimus asked about suddenly made Starscream act really weird, that's what he said at least." Springer continued. He tilted his helm a little to the left. "I thought he would go see you instead." Somewhere in Megatron's mind he was… upset, that it had already become known how much time he - Rodimus, spent with him. But Springer was his friend, so it was only natural that he would know about it. As if nobody else had noticed a bright orange and purple newspark walked around with Megatron, the former leader of the Decepticons. No, on one would be able to notice that _at all_. He had to put those thought away for now and instead focus on the matter at hand.

What could Rodimus possibly have asked that would make Starscream send him away? As far as Megatron had been told, by Soundwave and Knockout, they got along rather well. Again, Megatron didn't understand why or how. He'd never taken Starscream as someone who liked newsparks, the contrary in fact, but then he did get attention, which was something the seeker liked too much. Rodimus had explained in very detailed ways how much he liked to talk to Starscream, so whatever he had said it wasn't supposed to upset the him.

"When did he tell you this?"

"A groon ago or something." Megatron nodded.

"If I see him I will tell him you asked." Springer nodded back, looking pleased.

Megatron wanted to contact Soundwave and ask if he knew anything about what happened in the medbay and see the recording of it, and perhaps check on Rodimus to make sure he was alright. But, he had an audience. The newsparks all looked up at him, as if his next move was crucial to them, and no one took the hint that the conversation was over. He waited a klik longer, hoping they would understand what the silence meant, but then gave up.

"If you'll excuse me, I have some work to do." He made to turn and walk towards the Nemesis, but was stopped by yet another question.

"Why?" That word again. He thought what would be the best answer in the situation.

"There are several projects I need to check on, and make sure they are in order as well." Such as keeping Starscream on a short leash.

"Oh, okay." Seeing his chance, he gave a polite nod and walked away. Thankfully, he wasn't followed.

He continued walking a small distance away from the newsparks, and anyone else nearby, before he commed Soundwave.

-o-o-o-o-

Half a groon later, Megatron was watching the video from Rodimus visit with Starscream. Megatron had made a point in not supervising the conversations like this, even though he considered everything Starscream did his business, and trust that Starscream wasn't a fool who would hurt a newspark in medbay filled with other bots. But Soundwave still made sure to keep a record of their little time together. He hadn't reported anything so Megatron had assumed everything was okay, considering they were dealing with Starscream.

The conversation didn't seem strange in any way, but once Rodimus asked about Starscream's past, it turned into something different. Megatron watched that part three times before pausing the video just after Rodimus asked the question. Starscream faceplate was locked in an expression Megatron hadn't seen in a long time. It wasn't something you would look much into unless you knew the seeker, and Megatron knew the seeker very well. The first time he saw it was when Thundercracker and Skywarp died, and then every time they were brought up in a conversation. Megatron quickly learned not to bring them up. Not that he usually did, he wasn't the kind of mech who asked how someone was doing after a great loss, but sometimes it had just fitted the conversation. Or threat. But whenever they were brought up Starscream became unpredictable, more so than usual. And distracted in a way. And Megatron did not need a distracted soldier.

But Rodimus didn't know any of this, he was just curious. By the look on his faceplate when he left, he was both worried, most likely over what he did wrong, and hurt, because he hadn't meant to do anything wrong. On top of that, Soundwave didn't know where he was. There was only so many cameras.

"Situation: serious?" Soundwave asked, using his own voice.

"No, I doubt it. Rodimus is only confused, and Starscream hasn't done anything unexpected." He took one more look at the paused image of Starscream before turning around, letting Soundwave clear the screen. "I'll look for Rodimus, the studies start in five cycles so I doubt he is too far away. As for Starscream…" What could he do? Despite his feelings towards the seeker - conflicted, unexplainable, messed up feelings that had build up over the course of the war that told him he had to do something with that seeker- he wasn't really his responsibility anymore. Was he? Megatron let the question linger.  
The Autobots were the ones who had rescued and recruited him, on their own. They hadn't approached him on anything that had to do with the seeker, even though Megatron was sure they had thought about it. When he dispatched the Decepticons he also dispatched Starscream. They had their history, certainly, but they had nothing else between them anymore. Starscream hadn't been assigned a job yet so they weren't even colleagues. Just two mechs who used to work very closely with each other. And against each other.

"...Starscream wanted to be left alone, might as well grant him that wish." He said in the end. "He has some thinking to do, it seems." And so did he.

When it came to finding Rodimus, Megatron had an idea of where he could be. There seemed to be something about high places that appealed to Rodimus, more than once he had caught Rodimus saying he'd climbed some of the broken buildings in Kalis, and of course told him not to do it again. But, his favorite spot was on top of the Nemesis, so that was where Megatron decided to look for him. He only hoped Rodimus wasn't too upset. He didn't know what he would do then, he barely had any experience with happy newsparks, how he was supposed to handle a sad, or angry, one he didn't know. It's not like he could threaten him like he'd done with his troops.

Sure enough, Rodimus was on top of the nemesis. He had perched himself at the front, as far out on the spikes as he could, which was very far, and Megatron felt something twist inside him at the thought of what would happen if the newspark fell down. A very detailed picture of a crushed cranium, ruptured fuel-lines, bent limbs and grey optics was threatening it's way into his mind. He pushed it away.

Rodimus hadn't noticed him, which was knew. Every time Rodimus saw Megatron he would come up and greet him, often staying with him until he _had_ to leave. In fact, Megatron would sometimes go out of his way to avoid being seen by him just so he could get some work done. And sometimes he'd do the opposite, because, like he admitted earlier, he wasn't that bad of a company.

"Shouldn't you get back to your studies?" Megatron said questionly, hiding the fact that he knew why he was there behind a calm voice.

Rodimus looked up in surprise, but smiled as soon as he saw who it was. "Oh, hey!" He didn't move to stand though. "I… just wanted some time alone." He looked downward again, the height seeming to be no problem. Megatron waited to see if he would say something more.

"Springer asked for you earlier." he said after a moment. Rodimus turned back towards him.

"He did? Why?" Megatron took a few steps closer. However, the edge was getting too narrow for him to walk on normally and he didn't feel like playing acrobat.

"Yes. He said you seemed upset earlier, and probably wanted to know if you were alright." He added, "If you hurry and get to you studies you can tell him yourself how you're feeling." He was hoping Rodimus would get the hint and get up and walk away from the edge.

"Do I really have to go to the studies? I can tell him later before recharge." No, that was not what Megatron wanted to hear.

"Yes, you have to go. Those are the rules, remember?" He said a bit sternly. "And you remember what happens when you break the rules?" This seemed to bring him to his senses.

"Fine." He stood up and walked back from the edge, Megatron noticed he had a great balance - that part of him that had twisted earlier sent a 'thank you' to Primus - and stopped just beside him. Now that he was closer, Megatron noticed what Springer had said earlier. Rodimus did look upset. Confused. "Can you go with me?" he asked. Megatron nodded. He wanted to make sure Rodimus did get to the studies and didn't run away.

They walked back to the door, and then into the elevator. The room that were used as a schoolroom used to be a storage room, one of the larger ones, and was located six floors down.

"I think I did something wrong." Rodimus said. He looked down at the newspark beside him.

"How so?" He asked. Rodimus was clutching his left arm, his usual upbeat statue slumped over.

"I asked Starscream a question, and it looked like it really upset him." Rodimus looked up to meet Megatron optics. "I asked him what he was like before the war. At first it looked like he was going to answer me, but then he said he didn't want to. Then he told me to leave." His voice had a higher pitch than usual, as if he was whining, but his expression told Megatron he was confused. And hurt. He wasn't used to this kind of 'punishment', for lack of better word. When he'd done something wrong before he'd always been told exactly what it was. Now he didn't know, and unlike his other wrongdoings where it had been something physical, like racing inside the halls, now it was a matter of feelings. Starscream didn't want to answer that question, and but Rodimus didn't _understand_ what he had done wrong, and that was what confused him.

Instead of this long explanation though, he thought out a shorter one. "You have asked him many questions, haven't you?"

"Yes?"

"And this never happened before, did it?"

"No."

"Then you didn't do anything wrong. The question must have upset Starscream, but you couldn't have known." The elevator stopped and the door opened. They walked out and to the right. "You should concentrate on your studies, and then address this matter with Starscream the next time you see him." Hopefully Starscream would've regained some sense by then.  
Hopefully.

 **-o-o-o-o-**

 **It will probably be a long break between this and the next chapter as well. Just so you know.**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	28. Chapter 28

**Here you go, another chapter.**

 **-o-o-o-o-**

Time was moving slowly. Instead of passing by it spinned in circles and made everything around him go slowly. By the time it took for one mech to step out the door, Starscream had counted the scuffs and marks on his chassis, figured out how much wax and polish would be needed to clean them out, and how long it would take. It was excruciating and boring. He flicked his left wing in annoyance, but as usual it didn't help the situation.

He wondered if he should make time go by faster by walking or reading those datapads Knockout had given him, but his mind was mainly on the task he just wanted to get over with. But Rodimus wouldn't be here for another half groon. He still wasn't quite sure how to go about the task of cutting the ties between them, and was kind of counting on luck to bring it into conversation rather quickly. It wouldn't do to let him stay there for a groon and then send him away for good. No, it would be best to do it quickly, and it wouldn't come as that big of a surprise after what happened yesterday. If only time could go by quicker…

He'd expected something from Megatron or Soundwave, but they hadn't even given him a hint that they knew what had happened. Of course they knew, there was no doubt about that, but was neither of them going to say anything about it? He was used to have his every action judged, and their silence made him a bit jumpy. And annoyed. And then he was annoyed at himself for being annoyed by their silence. He should be glad that they finally left him alone, if only for a little while, but he just couldn't find it in him. Old habits did die hard, he supposed.

And so he sat there, on the edge of his berth in the medbay, waiting for time to go by. Knockout had already been there, but the 'visit' had been cut short by some other matter he had to take care of, thus leaving Starscream alone to his musings. Everyone else in the medbay left him alone as usual and did their business. After a few more cycles of just waiting, he found himself moving his left wing in every way possible. Up, down, out to the side, in towards the middle, close to his back and away again. He could decide and feel every movement. His right wing was left in one place. No thought of action made it move, no natural wish to stretch or bend it did anything at all. He wondered what would happen if he tried to fly… Would he crash the very moment he transformed, or would he be able to fly for a few kliks before he lost all steering? He didn't plan on finding out though. He had decided very quickly that he was not going to allow himself to die in a situation where he would've been alright if he could still fly. He would sooner turn into a ground-vehicle before he let that happen.

He was allowed to think about it though. After all, time was still moving slowly.

Two breems left.

Knockout had mentioned that he soon would be fit for work. No heavy lifting - who would trust him with that anyway? - but something. Right now he was doing nothing. He wondered vaguely if it was decided already, what he was going to do, or if they would wait to see how fit he was when Knockout discharged him. Take note that Knockout wasn't letting him go, just discharging him from staying in the medbay every klick of every day. Something about his mental health meant he had to come back every day, but at least he could recharge somewhere else.

Starscream tried not to think about what kind of work he would be assigned, because whatever he came up with he didn't like. Not even being the the one on top leading all this sounded like a good option to him, which only made him realise how down he really was. And he had no idea how to get up. He wasn't giving up, Starscream was too stubborn to do that, his life was pretty much just on hiatus right now. But he would make sure it didn't last.

The door opened and in came the newspark he'd been waiting for. He was early, there was still a four cycles left of his countdown. Rodimus looked unsure, for the first time since they've met, and Starscream realised what happened yesterday must've really confused him.

"Hey Starscream." He said, slower than usual. He also kept himself at a small distance. He otherwise didn't really understand the concept of personal space, even though Starscream had explained it to him once. Literally.

"Rodimus." He greeted. Now to get this over with, as soon as he figured out how.

"I'm sorry about yesterday, even though I don't get what I did wrong." Rodimus began to talk, or rather mumble. "I said earlier I wouldn't make you talk about stuff you didn't want to talk about, but you never said you didn't want to talk about those things, so I didn't really know that." He explained. Starscream wondered for a moment what he was talking about, but then remembered their night on the roof. He was right about that, Starscream never told him where the line went. But that didn't matter now.

"Yes, I could tell you were confused." He began, calculating his next words. He thought he had a way to do this. "But I think, with everything that has happened and how this truce between the factions is developing, we should end our agreement."

Rodimus blinked a few times. "What are you talking about?"

"When we first met, we agreed we would answer each other's questions at the best of our abilities, remember?" He put in a pause, but it was just short enough that Rodimus didn't have time to reply. "I think it's time to end it now. I'm soon leaving this medbay and then I'll be busy with work, and you have studies to concentrate on." Rodimus listened carefully, and his expression turned from confused to hurt as he seemed to understand. "I don't think we will be of need of each other any more."

It was at this point, when his victim understood they'd been played, that he would feel satisfaction seep into his spark. That was not the case this time. But Starscream had been prepared for that and didn't let this hinder him.

"But I," Rodimus looked around confused, as if the words he tried to speak was hiding in the corners. "I thought we-, I came here because we were friends. You know, just so we could talk and have fun." Hurt and sadness aside, Starscream wondered what kind of mech this was that considered talking to him fun, especially in the state he had been since he woke up. _That's the thing with friends, they don't make sense._ He mentally shook his helm to scramble that thought. Where did it even come from?

"Ah," Starscream smiled as if the whole situation was just awkward. "Rodimus, you are a newspark. I'm not socializing with newsparks simply for fun, nor do I become friends with them." There, that had to be the last screw to send Rodimus' idea about them crumbling down.

Rodimus just stood there. He didn't move or say anything. _Well_ , Starscream thought, _this is the part where you react._ He had expected a tantrum of some sort, or maybe him storming out of the medbay and drawing attention from everyone. At least some harsh words-

"The Autobots were right about you." Rodimus suddenly said. His voice was shaking a little, and he clenched his servos tightly. "They were all right about you! You were just using me like a, like a toy!" And now he was shouting, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. "I hate you!" Then he stormed out. That had been the reaction he expected from a newspark.  
He still didn't feel any satisfaction.

-o-o-o-o-

Kup was keeping an optic out for trouble, even though he was officially off duty at the moment. He hadn't fully relaxed since he landed on Cybertron, not even in recharge, thanks to the 'cons walking around. He would have to admit he was impressed with how well it was going, this recruiting thing. Fights had erupted several times, but nothing serious ever came from them, miraculously. It would, he was sure of that, but nothing had as of yet. Nothing he knew of at least.

Most orbital cycles he spent on duty, but he could only work for so long before someone, probably ordered from Ultra Magnus, came and told him to take some time off. He did as he was told to avoid stirring up trouble, but he was still looking out for any problems that might arise. There hadn't been anything yet this day, and he was waiting for something to happen.

Though, a newspark nearly running him down wasn't quite what he had in mind.

"Ouf!" The small cybertronian ran straight into his right leg, sending them both out of balance and towards the ground. Kup managed to catch himself, while the newspark landed hard on his side. Kup got up and to the newsparks side, ignoring the pain in his right knee joint - had to be his bad knee - and helped him up.

"Hey kid, you okay?" The newspark had a severe case of bad paint jobs, orange and purple, and he looked like someone name 'Double Trouble' or something like that. "Come on, you didn't hit yourself that hard." He urged on when the little thing didn't get up further than on all fours.

"I-I'm fine." he stammered out.

"Did you hurt yourself?" He couldn't really tell from this angle, but it didn't look like anything other than the paint suffered. He'd hate to have to carry him or something if he was more damaged.

"No." His voice was slightly off, as if he was - a few drops of lubricant dropped from the newspark's faceplate and hit the ground - crying. Oh, scrap.

"Hey, kid. Look at me. Are you okay?" He reached out to help him up, only to have his servo shoved away.

"I said I'm fine! Leave me alone!" He slowly stood up, revealing his faceplate too Kup. Several drops of lubricant were running from his optics. The kid seemed to notice something was on his faceplate and reached a servo to touch it. He retreated it and looked in confusion at his now wet servo.

"What's that?" He asked, but it wasn't necessarily directed at Kup. He still answered because there currently weren't anyone else there. Besides he wanted to know if he really was okay.

"It's lubricant, kid. It leaks from your optics when you're upset or sad, and sometimes hurt." The newspark looked at him then back at the servo. And then he did what everyone does when the realise they're crying: attempts and fails to wipe the tears away. Instead of removing the liquid from his faceplate, he smudged it out so it wasn't just the areas under his optics that were wet, but his entire faceplate. Kup vented and took a cloth from his subspace.

"Here, use this." The newspark took it and used it to wipe is faceplate and servos, which had gotten wet at the first failed attempt. He handed it back.

"Thanks."

"No problem." Kup took the cloth again and sub-spaced it. "Now, care to tell me what made you so upset that you decided to run me down?"

He shook his helm. "No, I don't." He met Kup's optics. "Sorry about running into you though. I didn't mean to do that." Kup decided to shrug it of. If the kid hadn't apologized he wouldn't have, but since he had there was no reason to make anything big out of it.

"I've had worse, believe me." He said and took a good look over the newspark. He looked familiar, now that he thought about it, but Kup was sure they hadn't met. The paint job wasn't anything discreet, so if Kup had just seen him running around he still would've noticed him. But he'd seen him more than once…

"You're that kid always running after Megatron." He stated, remembering. He'd mostly seen him from afar, hadn't gotten a good look at his faceplates, but it was the same mech.

"Yeah." He answered.

"Rod- something…" He thought aloud. It was a strange name, that's all he really remembered. Strange, and not really fit for a newspark in his opinion.

"Rodimus."

"Yeah, that was it." He took in the flame design on the kid's chassis, and his overall slim build. He wasn't thin, like Soundwave, but his build suggested he was made for speed and not strength. Not that he was weak either. Kup's knee still hurt a bit. Rodimus was upset at the moment, but he didn't appear like someone that was unsure of himself, and he wasn't scared either, considering he was spending his free time with Megatron of all mechs.

"You look more like a Hot Rod to me though." He said after a moment's thought, not realising he was doing the name thing again. He'd chosen quite a few names back in the Golden Age of Cybertron, and still had it in him.

Rodimus narrowed his optical ridges in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," He gestured to Rodimus' chassis, "you don't look like a Rodimus, but more like a Hot Rod." The newspark looked down on himself, trying to see what Kup meant, but ended up with an even more confused expression.

"I don't get it."

"It's not important anyway." Kup answered. He didn't feel like explaining it, besides, he was getting sidetracked. Rodimus was still upset. "Where were you headed of to?"

Rodimus shrugged. "Don't know." Well that was enlightening. Kup didn't feel like just letting him go, and if he had to keep him here until he thought he was alright again he would, but preferably he would have someone else look after him.

"Do you have a guardian, or someone who looks after you when you're not in class?" By the looks of it, Rodimus didn't seem to know what a guardian was.

"Uh, just my friends, and sometimes team Prime." He answered eventually.

"Okay, where are they now?"

"Don't know. Probably one the other side of the Nemesis. The other newsparks likes to play there." Other side of the Nemesis. Rodimus hadn't been heading in that direction at all.

"Why aren't you there?"

"...don't want to talk about it." He was looking away.

"Fine, don't tell me.." Kup turned around. "Come on."

"Why?"

"I don't want you to be alone, so we're going to find you're friends." He looked back at Rodimus. He hadn't moved.

"I don't want to play with them."

"Fine, then you can sit on the sideline. Like I said, I just want someone to keep an optic on you." Rodimus still didn't come. In fact, it looked like he was moving the other way. Kup turned around to face him completely and narrowed his optics.

"Look here, _Hot Rod,_ you have two options right now. Either we find your friends, or I'm going to drag you up to Ultra Magnus and hand you over to him. Either way, I'm not leaving you alone."

Rodimus didn't look pleased, but his sad expression had changed to an angry one. Kup decided that was a good sign. Angry newsparks were always easier to deal with anyway.

"So, which one's it going to be?" Rodimus narrowed his optics before mumbling 'fine' with nearly closed mouth plates and walked after Kup, fuming. He had a temper too, then. Definitely a Hot Rod.

-o-o-o-o-

The kid was right, for some reason the newsparks seemed to like playing at the east side of the former Decepticon ship. Or maybe team Prime had just made this place their playground, away from the other ships and construction areas. Either way, there were a lot of newsparks running around.

"Rodimus!"

"Roddy!"

A few newsparks came running towards the still fuming, orange mech beside Kup. He didn't seem particularly happy to see them.

"Hey guys." He said curtly. The others stopped when they saw his mood.

"What's wrong?" A green mech said.

"I don't want to talk about it." Kup rolled his optics. He was sure he only stayed angry because he was stubborn, and not because he actually was angry.

"He's been like that since he ran into me, maybe you guys can lighten him up?" The others looked up at him and nodded enthusiastically.

"We'll lighten him up real good! Come on Rodimus!" The others began dragging him away, and he followed reluctantly. He turned around slightly to look back at Kup, and the veteran sent him a grin.

"See ya around, _Hot Rod_." The kid then sent him a mix between a glare and a pout, which looked ridiculous.

"What's that about?"

"Why'd he call you Hot Rod?" The other newpsarks began probing him with questions as Kup turned away and looked for someone that seemed like they were responsible for the newsparks. He wanted to tell them what happened, how he came across Rodimus and the newspark's state of mind. It might be nothing, but in case it wasn't, Kup thought it would be best to let them know.

There were several mechs and femmes watching over the newsparks, some were playing with them, others just keeping an optic out. He opted to go for someone he knew, the yellow mech called Bumblebee, who were standing a few spaces away while looking over the moving blurs of small Cybertronians.

"Bumblebee."

"Hey Kup." Bumblebee turned slightly towards him. "What brings you here?"

"One of the newsparks." He pointed behind him. "You familiar with the Rodimus kid?"

Bumblebee made a face that said it all: He'd had plenty of experience with Rodimus. "Yeah, I know him."

"Good. You see, I wasn't doing anything particular when he nearly ran me down a few cycles ago." Bumblebee looked surprised.

"Why?"

"I don't know, he wouldn't tell me. All I know is he was leaking his optics out for some reason and whatever it was, he won't talk about it." Bumblebee looked out to the sea of newsparks, maybe to find the subject of their conversation.

"That's not like Rodimus. He's usually a talkative mech." Bumblebee looked back at Kup. "Really talkative. He can ask questions for groons on end, and he loves to hear stories from the war." Kup nodded.

"Yeah, I figured it might be something unusual." He thought back to the conversation with Rodimus, but didn't think of anything else that might be important for Bumblebee to know. "I don't really have anything else to tell you, other than he came from the Nemesis. Hopefully you guys can sort it out."

Bumblebee nodded to him. "Thanks Kup, I'll see if I can find out what it might be about."

They then said their goodbyes and Kup turned to walk back to his post on the other side of the Nemesis. He cast a glance towards where he'd left Rodimus of, but couldn't see him. Ether the others had gotten him into a game or he was sitting on the sidelines. At least he wouldn't be alone now, which had been the reason he brought him here. Hopefully the next time they met it wouldn't be in a crash.

 **-o-o-o-o-**

 **A little secret for you guys, the Hot Rod part was the reason I brought Kup into the story. I had a few other ideas, but in truth only Kup could give Rodimus that name (in my story at least). I don't know how they choose names, but just went with some idea I had. And if anyone of you have seen the G1 series, I think we can agree that Rodimus/Hot Rod really does look like a hot rod(the cars).**

 **Grammar mistakes? Questions? Somehting you just feel like telling me? Reviews of all kinds are welcome!**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	29. Chapter 29

There were several possible reasons for Shockwave's lack of communication, and their trouble in locating him. One, was that he was dead. Either by the Predacons or the army of undead Unicorn had raised, those were the most likely causes at least. Another was that he was injured in a way that kept him from contacting them. And third was that he was hiding from them.

Shockwave had never shown any sign of treachery, unlike a certain other officer, but he was a smart mech. If he at some point decided he would betray Megatron, he would know how to hide it. Properly.

Yet Megatron wasn't convinced that was the case. Shockwave had been there from the beginning, just like Soundwave, and fought beside Megatron loyally. He might be tampering with creation and use questionable methods to reach his goals, but he was a Decepticon. Megatron was sure of it.

But if that was true, why couldn't they find him? If he wasn't dead, and he wasn't betraying them, what was he doing, and why was he doing it alone?

Predaking had found out who it was that really killed his army on earth. Could he, and the other two predacons, being looking for revenge from their creator? It seemed unlikely, given how Shockwave had treated them as soldiers and not as beasts, like Starscream had. But he hadn't tried to stop them from killing his army, and that might be enough for Predaking.

The predacons was another problem they had to fix. So far, only Starscream had suffered from them, and no one had reported any sign of them that could help.

One would think that they would be able to locate giant, flying beasts when they had little problems locating newly created newsparks, but it wasn't that simple. Newsparks were newsparks. Their signals reached out and called to every scanner and locator that existed. It was because of their sparks, a way of survival that would ensure that someone could find them and take care of them. It was nature, that the young ones would be given a fighting chance. When it was a being that wasn't a newspark, their signal was more hidden. It was there, and the scanner could pick it up, but it had to be scanning at the right area at the right time. That was why the Autobots could remain hidden on earth even though the Decepticons outnumbered them, and why it wasn't an easy task to locate energon mines.  
So, the only thing they could do was scanning, looking and waiting. No matter how mundane the task was, it was hardwired now after the war.

Megatron put down the datapad he was reading and folded his servos on the desk in front of him. The task of making the Decepticons work with the Autobots was not what he had expected. They were doing manual labour together, and with very little trouble _considering_ the circumstances, but it was the moments when they weren't working together that trouble started. Most of them caused by Decepticons. He wasn't surprised, they were just following his example through the war, but he was disappointed. The faster they learned to live together the better. But, not all of them had had the same chance to change as he had. You got a new way of seeing things when the Chaos maker himself used you like a puppet. The rest of them would have to learn another way. He'd seen how the newsparks mostly didn't favour either of the factions, and hoped they would be the one to change his army.

 _Speaking of newsparks…_

Soundwave had informed him of Starscream's newest action. Megatron wasn't sure if he was even surprised. Starscream had enjoyed the company of Rodimus, that was the only reason he had let him come, but he was still Starscream. And Starscream hadn't cared for anyone other than himself in a long time.

Again, Megatron was a little lost for how he should react. He'd established that Starscream wasn't really his problem anymore, at least not on the same scale as before. Rodimus on the other hand was. Not a problem, but Megatron had let it go too far to not be involved with him on a larger scale than most of the adults, but given his little experience with newsparks, it was a problem to figure out what to do. Talking seemed to fix things with the young mech, so he'd do that at least. What he'd say wasn't decided yet, but it would probably have to be some explanation, about Starscream or his actions, or something like that. And about himself.

After all, he still didn't fully feel he belonged here. Though he would have to admit, it was good to have work. Deadlines, challenges, seeing the fruit of the work, it felt _good._ That was one of the things that'd made it possible for him to keep going during the war. Just the memory of this feeling once could keep him set on his goal for eons. Remembering the feeling of winning his first battle had made it possible for him to win hundreds of others. Not only did he remember that hard work payed of, but he remembered what he could do by just setting his mind on it. They were just beginning their work now, but Megatron could imagine the result of their constructions work within short time. Seeing a new city in his mind, built upon the aches of the old one, knowing he could be there to see it rise up, _that_ made it all worth it. Worth the wait.  
But after that, after he'd done his part, what then? Megatron was a leader. Gone were his days in the mines, and gladiatorial matches wouldn't begin any time soon if he had his say in it, so there was little for him to do when their society began to grow again. Whatever he'd do, there was as chance that it wouldn't be here.

A quick look at the time signaled it was time to move. There would be a meeting for all the officers, both among the Autobots and the Decepticons, along with Team Prime and himself. There were still many questions that hadn't been answered, and Ultra Magnus had decided to have a meeting where they all would get the opportunity to ask them. Personally, Megatron didn't think it was necessary to make is so formal. There had been several who'd come to him directly with questions, and he'd done his best to either answer them or pass it on to someone who could, so a formal meeting wasn't needed in his opinion. He'd said that, but Ultra Magnus had disagreed, and so had a the rest of Team Prime. By democratic rules then, he'd lost.

They were were having the meeting at the bridge, naturally. The platform would make it possible for Ultra Magnus and himself to see everyone, and for everyone to see them. The sound also moved well around the room, as long as there weren't too many speaking. That might not be a realistic goal, Decepticons and Autobots stuck in the same room for an unknown amount of time would without a doubt cause a few 'disagreements', but hopefully it wouldn't move on to anything physical.

Servo tucked behind his back, he walked into the bridge. It had just started to fill up, and Megatron noticed how the two factions stood, mostly, separated. Autobots on the right, Decepticons on the left. At the end of the platform, Ultra Magnus was discussing with Wheeljack and a grey - he guessed it was an Autobot - mech. As he walked in, all the Decepticons lifted their helms and saluted, stopping whatever they'd been doing, and he nodded to them in response. The Autobots were less enthusiastic, some not acknowledging him, others glaring, but there was a few who showed some respect.

"-don't think we have enough time, and therefore only one of us can stay." The grey mech said. And yes, he was an Autobot. He had an red insignia on his shoulder Megatron hadn't seen before.

"Very well. If you need anything else, contact me or Megatron." Ultra Magnus said, gesturing and nodding in greeting to Megatron at the same time. The grey mech cast him a nervous glance.

"Yes, sir. Thank you for your time." He then turned, followed by Wheeljack who grinned about something Megatron must've missed, and walked back to the door.

"Is there any problems?" Megatron asked, but doubting it since there weren't any urgency in the other mech's manner.

"No. Kickoff is the head of a construction group, and they recently came across an unstable building that needs to be taken down swiftly. He is leaving his partner here in his absence." Megatron nodded and cast a glance around the room. The atmosphere was just above 'normal', but not tense or stretched. That was a good sign. If they could keep it like this the officers would be able to pay more attention to what was being said and not the other mechs in in the room. He looked over to Soundwave, who was standing by the door. He gave a swift nod, indicating that everything was as it should. Good. All they had to do was make sure it stayed that way.

-o-o-o-o-

 _Oh scrap, oh scrap, oh scrap_. Blitzwing's trail of thought could be more controlled and adult-like, and realising that he changed it to _All hail Megatron, all hail Megatron, all hail Megatron._ Sure, said mech had dismantled the Decepticon army and was working with an Autobot, but that was still one sentence he felt he safely say around Decepticons. And you didn't get much more Decepticon than Soundwave.

He'd arrived late, along with Onslaught, and therefore gotten the last remaining place by the door. Next to Soundwave. He seen the mech before, but their 'meetings' had never lasted more than three kliks, and there had been a bit more room between them. This was different, and he had no idea how long this meeting thing would last. After one glance at Onslaught, he knew he was having the same problem.

Soundwave was, to most bots on both sides, an enigma. He was silent, he was always in the background, he was always watching, and he was fiercely loyal to Megatron. And that was about everything the normal mech knew about him. There were many rumors about him though. Some say he was a gladiator, just like their leader, others that he was a science project gone wrong - or right, there were stories about him being there from the beginning, or just showing up one day and joining their cause. One rumor was that he could pick up their thoughts, read their minds if you will. Soundwave had many abilities, Blitzwing didn't doubt that, but he didn't know how many, or what they all were. He'd seen a lot of strange things around the galaxy, and Soundwave having the ability to read his mind wasn't really that unlikely. That was why he was trying to make sure that if he was reading his mind right now, he wouldn't find anything that would get him killed. Sure, his current mantras was a bit on the crazy end, but at least they weren't stupid or disrespectful of the one mech that could control Soundwave.

After five cycles of this, he decided that Soundwave wouldn't kill him, yet, and tried to focus on the reason he was here. This meeting was mostly lost to him, but he would follow orders and stay here until he was dismissed. Someone had asked something about two cycles ago, and that was now being answered by someone else. Blitzwing had caught the word 'rations' and that was it. He'd been busy with his mantra at the time.

"-still searching for energon, and while we are making progress, it is going slow. For now, you all just have to be patient." An Autobot had answered. After a little of search with his optics, he saw it was the yellow one. The one who'd killed Megatron. Looking at him as a warrior, Blitzwing couldn't help but respect him. Megatron was a skilled fighter, and that meant that this mech was just as skilled to even have a chance to kill him. Looking at him as a Decepticons, Blitzwing hated him. Megatron was their chosen leader, and he wasn't supposed to die. Sure he'd come back to life, but he'd still been dead for a few moments and it was that Autobot's fault. He'd pierced his spark! How was BLitzwing supposed to feel about him? _Not that I want to hurt him or anything, we're allies now after all,_ He quickly added to his thought process, just in case Soundwave was listening, _it's just a little bit conflicting at times._

There was a little bit of murmur before they all grew quiet again. Someone on the other side of the room, on the Decepticon side, raised a servo, which was all Blitzwing could see, and was given permission to talk.

"Thank you, sir." A mech answered. "Me and my friends have a few concerns 'bout the newsparks." He began.

"Have they given you any troubles?" Megatorn asked.

"No, no!" The mech said, a bit too quickly. "They're all good and all, and it's fun havin' them around." He explained. It sounded a little forced, but it might just be nervousness. "But, we've noticed that they don't know all the safety rules when it comes to broken buildings, you know?" Yeah. Blitzwing had seen some of that too. Climbing on top of them and inside them, not clearing far enough away when one fell down. Blitzwing wasn't a sentimental mech, and he'd never been too fond of newsparks, but they'd given him a few good scares while doing their little tricks. Dirge had laughed at him, and then he'd been pushed into a rather lager hole. He'd stopped laughing then and started cursing instead. That was a way better sound.

"Can you elaborate?" Someone one the Autobot side asked, judging from the turned helms of their leaders. The Decepticon clearly hadn't been prepared for that, and took a few kliks to find the right words.

"Well, they come and join us while we work - and durin' our breaks too, but that's not the problem here - and they stick around and talk and stuff. And that's cool, we can show them what we're doin' and tell stories. But then they decide to explore on their own, and we can't really follow them 'cause we got our orders, and we have to watch those who's still there with us, but we know how easy it is to get hurt and we're kinda at lost at what to do." The guy took a deep intake after he finished, and others gave a few agreeing murmurs. It wasn't an isolated incident, but Blitzwing already knew that.

They'd been living on the edge of death for so long, but suddenly they didn't have to and that was a bit confusing. It wasn't bad, but old habits die hard, as they say. What made it even harder was the young cybertronians who didn't fully understand the consequences of their choices. Most of them, on both sides, liked the newsparks, they were funny bunch, and wanted to keep them alive if nothing else. But doing so was hard when you didn't have much experience with them. Blitzwing was used to letting other mechs and femmes do what they wanted as long as he was left out of it, but he'd found out that it wasn't really something you could do with the newsparks. So he was interested in the answer to this problem.

"I understand that this is growing problem." Megatron's voice rang over all of the murmurs, stopping them in an instant. "And we are working on solutions. We have assigned guards to keep the newsparks under control, but they are having difficulties in keeping everyone in line." He moved his helm and looked in the direction of the mech who'd asked the questions. "Those who get away are the ones you encounter during your work."

"Surely there are more than one option to fix this problem?" A female voice came from Blitzwings left. He could make out a dark orange helm. "Before the war, groups of newsparks of five or six were assigned to three guardians who keep them under control whenever they weren't in school." She reminded them. "Isn't that an option we can consider?"

"And where are we gonna find those guardians? Do you wanna volunteer?"

"I just think we should consider it."

"Wouldn't it be better to keep them at one place instead of letting them go wherever they want?"

"We're not going to imprison them!"

"It would be safe-"

"Enough!" The growing verbal fight stopped, again by Megatron's strong voice. It had an edge to it that demanded silence, one all the Decepticons recognised and knew to listen to. The Autobots seemed to understand the message as well.

After a few kliks of silence, Ultra Magnus picked up where Megatron left of. "Assigning guardians is an option that we are keeping open," He looked towards the femme who'd suggested it, "but as someone has pointed out, we are in need of volunteers, and there are currently few who wish the responsibility." Yeah, Blitzwing had to side with those. Send him into a battle and he'll fight as long as he can, but watching over newsparks, having responsibility for their lives, and he'll die before getting started. It was a completely different category. There was also the option of having sole responsibility of one newspark, or two in case of twins and such, but it'd never been a common thing. At least not where Blitzwing used to live. It would make it easier because you only had one newspark, but then you were alone with _all_ of the responsibility. Unless you had a partner of som sort to help you, but the main point is that everything that happens to that newspark will come back to you. You had to know you wanted to responsibility, to put it that way.

"However, we do see the need to act. The newsparks are curious, so much that it can be a danger to themselves. When we find a solution, you will all be informed." That appeared to be it. No one objected, so it must've satisfied them for now. Someone else started to talk when the doors to the bridge opened. Due to his position right by the door, Blitzwing had turned around before they were fully opened, wondering who it might be. Someone orange and green. No, two someones. One orange and the other green.

Everyone in the room turned to see who it was, and was a bit lost when they saw it was two newsparks. One was the infamous Rodimus, yes, Blitzwing had learned his name. After he'd found out that he really was Megatron's friend - or something along those lines - he'd made an effort to stay away from him. Either the kid hadn't told on him and his friends from that time they teased them, or Megatron had for some reason decided he didn't have to punish him. Blitzwing preferred to not know. The other, Springer, was the kid that'd hit down Onslaught. The'd found out afterwards that he had an injury in that knee and the kid had been lucky to hit it, but that only made it better: a newspark somehow managed to hit his one weak spot. Back to the present, Blitzwing hoped none of them would recognize them. If someone misunderstood and thought they'd been 'unfair' to the two of them, they would be in a whole lot of trouble. It'd only been teasing!

The newsparks had stopped completely in their tracks, both in shock from the sudden attention they received. The made an attempt to get away, turning quickly and preparing to run, -

"Rodimus. Springer."

\- but were stopped. Blitzwing almost thought he heard a sigh in Megatron's voice. Not that he was judging, if a newspark had followed him everywhere he'd be a bit frustrated too. They both turned to face their audience, though much slower this time.

"...hey."

"Hi." They answered. Someone snickered quietly, clearly enjoying the look on their faceplates. Someone else said "speak of the unmaker", turning the snicker into a muffled laughter. It was rather funny that the two them came right after the discussion on how to control the newsparks better.

"Would either of you care to tell us why you are here, and not in class?" Megatron didn't sound exactly harsh, but it wasn't a gentle tone either. It demanded some sort of answer at least, and it was clear that whatever happened now, they would have a talk later. Rodimus and Springer took a moment to think before they answered, catching each other's gazes as if communicating with their optics on what they should say. Springer was turning his helm slightly away, so Blitzwing couldn't really read his expression, but Rodimus looked worried. He shook his helm slightly, and Blitzwing thought he heard a 'uh uh' sound. They looked back to Megatron.

"No, thanks."

"We're okay like this, thanks."

Megatron raised an optical ridge, not saying anything for a moment. The newsparks started to squirm under his gaze. "If that is the case, then you won't mind being escorted back to class?"

"No."

"That sounds perfect!" Springer exclaimed, almost as if he was oblivious to the situation.

Bumblebee stepped forward and walked towards the newsparks. He was smiling while shaking his helm.

"Come one you two." He put his servos on their shoulders to turn them around, and in that process Rodimus looked directly at Blitzwing. His optics widened as he recognised him, and Blitzwing did the same. If he said anything right now, anything at all, it could be the end of him, depending on the way he put his words. And the green, feisty one would make it all worse if he too said something, which he definitely would if he turned just a little bit more to his left and lifted his helm. First he would see Blitzwing, and then he would look a little behind him and see Onslaught, the one who dared to call him pipsqueak. Wouldn't that be just great? Death because they couldn't shut their stupid vocal chords.

Blitzwing had pretty much accepted his death when the doors closed behind the Autobot and the two newsparks. He looked at the spot they'd been just a moment ago and wondered what happened, why he wasn't dead from a direct shot from Megatron.

"I apologize for the interruption." Megatron said, clearly not amused by the situation. Most of the bots in the room didn't share that mood though, judging by the chuckles that reached Blitzwing's audials.

He was about to turn his attention to his leader when he caught a glimpse of himself to his left. He looked back, because he was sure there hadn't been a mirror there earlier, and saw himself again. In Soundwave's visor. Though he couldn't see his optics, he knew without a doubt that Soundwave was looking at him.

Oh scrap. Soundwave knew. Soundwave knew. They were still going to die.

He turned away and looked at Onslaught, who was wearing an expression that mirrored Blitzwing's feeling of fear, sadness and utter regret.

 _I swear we were just teasing!_ He said - cried - in his mind. If Soundwave could read minds then he could read their emotions too, right? Then he had to know that he was telling the truth! _We never wanted to hurt them, we just talked! I'm so sorry, it will never happen again._

If Soundwave did indeed read his mind, he would know two things: Blitzwing was telling the truth, and he was a cyberchicken to the core.

 **-o-o-o-o-**

 **Grammar mistakes? Something that dosen't make sense? Felling like saying something? Write a review!**

 **BTW thank you to everyone who has followed and/or favorited this. It makes me so happy and honered that you consider this story worth your time :D**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	30. Chapter 30

"We're screwed, aren't we?" Springer asked while they waited for their inevitable doom.

"You didn't have to come with me, I just didn't feel like going to class." Rodimus answered.

"Psh, I didn't feel like going either, it's boring! But! If I knew half the army would be waiting for us, I would've gone somewhere else." Springer said dramatically. He stopped and looked around, mainly at Bumblebee who was making sure they didn't leave until Ultra Magnus and Megatron talked with them, and spoke with a hushed voice. "You think they'll be hard on us? Like, several orbital cycles with homework and cleaning?"

Rodimus shrugged and shook his helm. "Don't know."

This wasn't the answer Springer wanted. His expression dropped several levels down to a mix between annoyed and worried. "Come'on Roddy, forget about Starscream! He's not worth it." Rodimus winced at the mention of his "friend's" name.

"I know, it's just…" He vented, resting his helm in his servo on the table. "I really thought we were friends." When they'd been called in for class again, after that guy had taken him back to his friends, he'd decided he wanted to talk with Megatron instead. Springer had caught him sneaking away, and joined him. While looking for the former military leader, Rodimus had opened up about Starscream, feeling like he could tell his best friend about it. Springer had, naturally, then suggested they go beat Starscream up for using Rodimus like that. "I feel so stupid. Everyone said he was bad news and that it was a bad idea to hang out with him." Another long exhale. "And I didn't listen."

"You don't have to feel stupid!" Rodimus raised his optical ridge.

"Really?" He didn't believe that for one klik.

"Yeah. Maybe he used you, but you used him too." The optical ridge fell back in place then, a questioning look taking form instead. He didn't get it. "He got information from you, and you got information from him! Like, you know more about Cybertron's history than anyone else, and that's all because of Starscream!" ...Maybe Springer wasn't that far of. "Sure, it would've been better if you could be friends, but you still got a whole lot of answers that'll help you in class. He got info about the truce thingy, but you got a ticket to good grades! That's way better than whatever he's going to get."

Slowly, Rodimus raised his helm from his servos. Springer did have a point. Not as good as it could've been, but not so bad either. Rodimus hadn't been the only one being used. "I think… I think you're right."

"Of course I'm right!" He exclaimed. Bumblebee was sending them both confused glances, but didn't intervene. "And now that you know that, we can go beat him up." He stopped, optics lighting up like energon set on fire. "Or maybe we can ask Megatron to do it! That'd be so cool!"

Rodimus frowned, thinking hard about all the conversations he'd had with him. "I don't think he does that kind of thing anymore." And Rodimus didn't really want him to do it anyway. He was angry with Starscream, but he didn't want him to get hurt all over again.

"We could still ask him."

Rodimus hummed in thought, mostly to entertain his friend. "We'll see." He said eventually. Springer grinned widely. Rodimus wasn't sure all of the stories he'd heard was good for him, but then again, Springe had always been a little crazy.

"...Thanks Springer." He said. "You're a really cool friend."

He continued to grin, his optics now glowing warm from the declaration. "I know I am. And you'd do the same for me, right Roddy?"

He smiled back. "Sure. You just say the word, and I'll beat the guy up for you." They had exactly three kliks to enjoy the promise - and it was a promise - when the doors opened.

They'd been told to just wait in the classroom until the two leaders arrived, so the usual packed room felt pretty empty with just five bots here. Before coming towards them, Megatron and Ultra Magnus went over to Bumblebee, giving the two newsparks a few extra kliks. Rodimus used it in the best way he could.

"By the way, I think they'll be harder on me than you." He spoke quietly to his friend.

"Why?"

"Because I've been in trouble before, this is you first time, isn't it?" He gestured to the bots talking a few spaces away. "First time being caught by them, I mean." Springer nodded.

"Yeah, it is." Ultra Magnus and Megatron turned towards them, fixing them with their optics. Springer tensed up, if just a little. "...It's been nice knowing you, buddy." He said, overdramatically. Rodimus couldn't help but grin.

"Boys, over here." Bumblebee called. They obediently rose up and walked, slowly, to the three mechs waiting. They stopped once they stood just out of arms reach. Now for their punishment.

Four groons and a very clean rec-room later, the two of them collapsed on their berths. Springer was done after that, but Rodimus would have more work to do the next orbital cycle. He'd been right, they were harder on him because he "should have known better by now." Well, at least he'd been right about something this time.

-o-o-o-o-

The early mornings were Knockout's favorite times of a day. Sure, he liked to recharge, but when he woke up early while most other bots were still in their dreamworld, it felt like he had the entire galaxy for himself. It never lasted to long because there were of course other early risers, Megatron and Soundwave being two of them, lucky him, but it was nice for the short moment it lasted.

He felt extra good this morning. He was going to meet up with Ultra Magnus and talk about Starscream's assignment, which meant that he very soon would leave the medbay, which meant Knockout would soon be free from him. At least for most part of the day, and just that was a big improvement. He'd need a room not too far from the medbay, just in case something happened - and the chances that something did indeed happen was very high. He just hoped that whatever assignment the seeker got it wouldn't involve Knockout, and that it wouldn't hurt him. You could only fix someone so often before you wanted to kill the bot instead, and Knockout didn't want to end up behind bars either. Though, there were probably someone, a lot of someones, who might dub him a hero if he ended the seeker. But no, he would try to avoid that if for no other reason that he was now an Autobot. And autobots didn't kill if they didn't absolutely have to. And right now, no one had to kill Starscream. The mech still had some problems walking, so posing any threat was not going to happen just yet. Hopefully not at all, but Knockout was a realist.

The red doctor was currently driving outside the 'camp' they set up, the three ships being placed in a sort of triangle with energon stations both inside the ships and in the middle of the triangle. It mostly to prevent someone from seeing him and then disturb his time alone, but it was also some form of politeness so that he didn't wake anyone. He was after all getting along quite well with most of the bots he was surrounded with. The other day he even had a race with Smokescreen and Bumblebee, during their free time so no one was missing their work. It'd been nice. It'd began a bit slowly, the three of them still a little on edge, but they quickly managed to forget it and just drive. At the end of it, they'd all agreed to do it again. Maybe they could invite some of the others to join them, make a little game out of it for the grown ups? - because everyone knows that the newsparks weren't the only ones who liked to play.

He suddenly heard the familiar sound of an engine and wings breaking through the air. He transformed, out of old habit, and looked up. Two fliers coming from the direction of the camp. Autobots. They were headed south. He wondered what they thought about him, being out here on his own. He didn't care about it, he just wondered. He also wondered what Starscream might feel about not being able to fly again. Knockout had been very careful in the beginning, saying they couldn't know for sure and they just had to wait and see, but it was clear now that Starscream would never be able to fly again. The sensors in his left wing were just dead. The ones connecting them to the back wasn't much better either. If Knockout was in his position, he would've changed to a ground-vehicle, so that he could at least have a reason to transform, but he had a feeling Starscream wouldn't do that. He had the typical Vosian qualities: proud of his flight capabilities, and never willing to give them up. Even when he had no choice. And, from the perspective of someone who valued the way someone looked, Knockout didn't think the seeker would fit to be anything that moved on the ground. Unless he walked.

Knockout turned at the sound of another engine, a small one, and saw a blue motorcycle. Much like himself, most of team Prime had decided to keep their earth based vehicular forms. They had, most likely, done it out of sentiment towards their human friends and all that. Knockout just liked they way he looked. It was one thing he would give those organics, they could make some fine pieces of art once they put their minds to it.

Arcee came to a stop and transformed, all in one motion, and walked the last few spaces up to him.

"Why, good morning Arcee." He said, cheerfully. "And how are you this fine morning?" He smiled, hoping to get some smart answer from her. She was really good with those. But she didn't return his smile.

"Conflicted." She said, with no additional explanation.

"I hope it's nothing I did." He said, just for fun really. He was sarcastic after all. This time she did smile a little, but it wasn't an amused one.

"Well, actually it kind of is." He stopped short. What had he done? Had he said something wrong? No, he never did that. Bumblebee and Smokescreen hadn't been hurt after that race, had they? If that was the case it wasn't his fault. They'd agreed to go racing without him pushing them, for once. "You've been too good as a doctor." He looked at her with confusion. Then he understood.

"Starscream." He said.

"Mhm." She crossed her arms. "I had a talk with Ultra Magnus just now. He said he's soon leaving the medbay, to get an assignment."

Knockout nodded in response. "That's true." He was still a little confused. He'd been given the job to fix Starscream as soon as Bulkhead brought him back, and Arcee had never done anything to stop him, or tried to change the others mind. If she had he would've understood, but she hadn't so why she would come now he didn't understand.

"And I would've been okay with that, if it weren't for the fact that Ultra Magnus asked if I would let him join my team." Oh. Now he understood.

"Why the scrap would he put him on your team? Out of all of them, why yours?" Knockout didn't hide the fact that he was both shocked, and a little angry. They wanted to solve their problems, not make more. And honestly, he thought Arcee had been through enough when it came to Starscream.

"To help me move on I guess." She said, almost as if she didn't care.

Knockout huffed. "Such an Autobot thing to do."

"It's an Optimus thing to do." She countered, as if that changed everything. Perhaps it did, to her. It didn't meant much to him. Maybe a little, but not much. He shook his helm.

"That still doesn't change the fact that-" He stopped. No, think before you speak Knockout. "I'm guessing you're here to ask me questions about him?" There. Much more controlled.

"Actually," She said, this time with a real amused smile. "I was on my way to the Well. You just happened to be here." He grimaced a little. He should've guessed that he wasn't the one she really wanted to talk to. "But," she continued, "I would like to hear what you have to say. Because, you know what it's like." Her smiled disappeared, and in it's place there was a look of confusion. And a hope that somehow he could help her.

She was right. He knew. They'd been on different sides, but they'd both lost a someone they didn't want to lose. The difference was, she was better than him. She'd spared the seeker several times over, despite what he'd done. She'd showed that she could put away her anger for the greater good. Knockout could never do that. When CYLAS joined them, wearing his faceplate, he wanted nothing more than to put him through the pit. And, when Megatron turned him over to him, that was exactly what he'd done.

He wanted to help her. And that was why he didn't blurt out what he would've done.

"Are you considering taking him in?" He began asking.

Arcee looked unsure. She looked away, as if the right answer was somewhere else, then she said, "I don't know. Maybe I am…"

"In that case, then I'm not the one you should talk to." He concluded. She turned back to him.

"Why not?"

"Because when I got my servos in the human wretch who disassembled Breakdown, I made the rest of his life the pit. And I don't regret it." He tried to avoid it, but his voice still gained that edge that said he wasn't over it either. He was still angry.

Arcee looked at him with understanding. Not disgust, as he was sure some others would, but understanding. "Did it help you then?" She asked.

"Yes." He didn't even think twice about the answer.

"...Does it help you now?"

He couldn't answer. If it really had helped him, shouldn't he have been past it then? Shouldn't he have been able to move on? He remained silent. Arcee nodded, as if understanding what the silence meant.

"You have already spared him several times, which is more than I would've done." He stepped closer and put one of his servos on her shoulder. For some reason, that felt like the right thing to do. He half expected her to push it away, but she merely looked a little surprised. "If you think that taking him in will help you to move on, really move on, then perhaps you should do that." For a moment, she just looked at him, and he looked back. And then he felt like he'd gotten his fill of emotions and feelings and all that Autobot stuff. He flashed his smie and added quickly, "But, you should definitely talk to someone else too, because like I said, I'm not the best when it comes to this kind of stuff." He removed his servo to take half a step back. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a certain commander to talk about the release of a certain seeker so that I may gain some of my sanity back."

"You have a sanity?" She asked, smile in place and optics glinting with humor. That was the Arcee he knew.

He faked a gasp of pain. "How you wound me." He placed his servo over his spark-chamber. "Here I am, offering you my most treasured advice, and in return you break my soul."

She shook her helm while uncrossing her arms. Placing one servo on her hip she said, "I didn't know mere words could break you apart Knockout. I thought that ego of yours was big enough to take a few punches."

He shuttered his optics. "And now she mocks me." He turned around began to walk, slowly, so he didn't trip on anything. "I must go and seek out someone who will appreciate my presence."

"Yeah, good luck with finding anyone going that way." He stopped and opened his optics. He was walking away from the camp.

"Ah, yes." He turned back and looked at Arcee. She was looked very pleased with herself. "Well, you have to admit my performance was good."

"Sure, sure." She said in a very sarcastic tone. "Ever considered being an actor?"

He shrugged. "Medics are payed more."

"Mhm." She then turned more serious again, but still smiled. "Thanks Knockout."

"You are most welcome, Arcee." He said, and meant it.

-o-o-o-o-

Megatron didn't know whether to be worried or amused by the view in front of him. Rodimus, who was doing his second part of the punishment, was leaning heavily on the wall, optics closed and vents running smoothly. He'd been taken to continue on his punishment as soon as he had his energon, this time cleaning one of the lesser used storage rooms - the Nemesis had more than enough of those - since this was a school-free orbital cycle. They were considering getting rid of those, and thus give the newsparks less free time. It would make it easier to keep them under control, but they would need a few more teachers, so that their current ones didn't exhaust themselves.

Out of all the problems he knew would arise, keeping control of the newsparks hadn't been on his list. He just hadn't thought much about them, but it was clear that he needed to change that.

He walked further into the room and closer to Rodimus. He was recharging soundly, though how that was possibly he didn't understand. It didn't look comfortable.

"Rodimus." He said. No reaction. He raised his servo to shake his shoulder. "Rodimus." He repeated.

"Hm." The young mech said. He slowly opened his optics, tiredly looking around the room. He then saw Megatron, his optics focusing slowly on him. Megatron just waited, wondering what he might do and say to justify his little break. He looked back to the room.

"I cleaned half of it." He said.

"So you did." He noticed a cleaning cloth in his servo. "You just needed to rest your optics, am I correct?" He didn't even think about fighting the smile that grew on his lips.

"Yeah, that's right." Rodimus answered. He straighten himself and began to stretch his arms, raising them above his helm and to his side. "By the way, what are you doing here?" He asked once he finished. "Don't you have work to do?"

"Not at the moment." Nothing that needed his immediate attention anyway. He too needed breaks every once in awhile. "In addition, I believe you owe an explanation for your behavior last orbital cycle." Springer had no problem explaining how boring class was and that it was perfectly fine to drop class for that very reason. Rodimus hadn't been so open, contrary to his usual behavior. Megatron was hoping he would be more open now. He had an idea why Rodimus was acting like he did.

Rodimus dropped in gaze, frowning. "It's nothing important."

"If that is indeed true, then you will have no problem telling me what it is." Megatron said back. Rodimus looked conflicted, his optical ridges coming closer and lip components forming a thin line. In the end he exhaled, before nodding.

"Okay." He went back to leaning against the wall, crossing his arms in front of him and looked up at Megatron. "It's about Starscream again." He began. Megatron had been right. "I visited him last orbital cycle and told him that I was sorry about asking too much, but that I couldn't know about what he wanted to keep private without him telling me. And then he said- then he said that we didn't have to see each other anymore, because he'd gotten all the information he needed, or something like that, and that we soon wouldn't have time for that anyway." His voice became frustrated. He uncrossed his arms and began to motion with them along with the words. "When we first met we agreed to trade information, I ask something and he answer, and then he ask something and I answer, but I thought that didn't count anymore and that we were friends now." He stopped shortly, the light in his optics grew dimmer. "But he said that… that he doesn't become friends newsparks."

Megatron didn't say anything, feeling that Rodimus wasn't quite finished. After a moments pause, the newsparks continued.

"I didn't feel like going to class after that." He met Megatron's optics again, and gave a weak smile. "I wanted to talk to you, since you made me feel better the other time." Megatron stopped venting for a moment, completely taken back by the words. Rodimus had come to him for comfort? That didn't... Or perhaps it did make sense. Maybe? He was completely lost for how he should react, not even considered the possibility that Rodimus had come looking for him. "I figured you were at the bridge, so I went there. Springer followed me when he saw me sneak away. He was telling the truth, but he left out the part where I told him about what happened." Megatron nodded, wanting to get the story over with and move on. His spark was beating faster than it should, still lingering in shock. "I'm sorry we disturbed your meeting. We didn't know about that." Rodimus said in the end. He looked like he was in a better mood now.

"Disturbing our meeting was not the reason we punished you." Megatron said, glad for finally finding some words that fit the situation.

"I know." Rodimus answered. There didn't seem like there was anymore to say, and Megatron's spark calmed down again. He didn't know what to feel about the revelation. Yes, he had helped Rodimus feel better the other day, but did he really have that much faith in him?

"Megatron?" Rodimus broke the silence, a new question written in his optics, but clearly not connected to Starscream.

"Yes?"

"What's a 'Hot Rod'?" He asked. The way he asked made it sound like the words were of another language.

"A hot rod?" Megatron repeated, not completely understanding the question.

"Yeah. There was this mech who said I didn't look like a Rodimus, but more like a Hot Rod, but I don't get it. Is Rodimus a thing too? I just picked a name."

"I see." Megatron answered, now understanding the question. "No, 'Rodimus' is a name, and so is 'Hot Rod'. What he meant was that you looked like someone named Hot Rod."

Rodimus tilted his helm. "How can he know that?" Megatron thought for a moment, and then smiled.

"'Hot Rod' sounds more like a mech who breaks the rules, gives trouble to his superiors and never manages to stay still than Rodimus does, don't you agree?" For a moment, the newspark only looked up at him, taking in the words. Then he smiled, as if that would justify everything. "And besides," Megatron added, gesturing to Rodimus' chestplates, "you have a flame design on your chassis." Rodimus looked down on said design, and then chuckled.

"Heh, Hot Rod. Didn't think about that." He looked up, still smiling.

Megatron smiled too, looking into the young optics. Then he looked away. His spark had begun beating faster again, but just a little. He felt the need to leave, hoping to escape… whatever this was.

"You should probably finish cleaning." He said. Rodimus looked to his cleaning supplies, and the cloth his still had in his servo.

"Yeah, your right. I want to finish today anyway." He turned around to do just that, and Megatron planned to turn too, in order to leave, when Rodimus again said his name.

"Megatron?" He looked up, smile now gone and worry filling his optics again. "You and I are friends, right?"

Megatron was again shocked, but this time by the way Rodimus said the words, as if the answer would be the difference between life and death. He was disappointed with Starscream, and now wanted to make sure Megatron wouldn't disappoint him too. Before he answered, Megatron knelt down in front of the newspark, not feeling the least uncomfortable with the action, and met Rodimus optics.

"Yes, Rodimus, we are friends." The newspark smiled, and opened his intake to say something, but Megatron continued to speak. "And because we are friends, I feel that you should know something." The smile disappeared again as Rodimus understood the tone Megatron used.

"Okay."

Megatron took a moment to find the right words, hoping that he managed to phrase this right. "Do you remember when the Autobots first came for you, and what I said before you left?"

Rodimus nodded. "Yes. You said that, your place wasn't with them." He frowned. "But you're here now."

"Yes, and I will stay for a while, to help with the Decepticons." He answered. "But after that, I may still feel that this is not where I belong. And if that is the case, I will leave again." Rodimus' optics widened.

"But, but where will you go?"

"I don't know yet."

"Then what's the point of leaving if you don't have anywhere to go?" Megatron couldn't help but smile at the logic.

"That is a good question, but I will have to find out when the time comes. For now I'm here, and as there are still much to do, I will stay for a while." He looked directly at the newspark, hoping that his next words would be the ones he remembered most. "But whatever happens, you have to remember that it is not because I don't like you, or that I don't want to be friends with you. It's simply a choice I will make based on whether I believe I belong here or not."

Rodimus didn't look any better, but he nodded, confirming he at least had heard it. He bit his lip components, struggling with his own thoughts about the matter. "If... if you decide to leave, will you at least say goodbye?"

"You have my word." Megatron nodded. He could do that, and he owed it to the newspark for putting him through this.

This seemed to ease his thoughts, he even smiled a little, as if to prove it. After a moment, Rodimus raised his arms a little, like he was reaching for something, and then stopped, a look of hesitation coming over him. The next moment he threw his arms around Megatrons neck, hugging him as tightly as he could. Megatron stopped venting again, his spark picking up speed until it felt like it would burst.

"I'm going to convince you to stay." Rodimus voice reached his audials, muffled as he pressed his faceplate close to Megatron's armour. He was unable to come up with a response, and he didn't believe he would be able to say or do anything even if he had. The closeness paralyzed him in a way he had never experienced before, leaving him barely able to comprehend what was happening. And then, as quickly as it had began, the hug was over, and Rodimus was again at a normal distance. But it didn't help his racing spark, nor his tumbling thoughts. He had to leave. Now.

"I should get back to work." He said, quickly standing up again. "And so should you."

Rodimus nodded, "See you later?"

"Yes." was all he was able to answer, and turned around. He walked out quickly, cutting corners through the halls, aiming for the quickest way to get outside.

He still felt the arms around his neck, and the slighter warmer frame pressed close to his. The soft breeze from Rodimus vents and the sincerity in his voice. It wasn't the first time he'd been hugged, but it had never brought out this reaction from him. This feeling of everything and nothing. It was like when Bumblebee had pitched his spark, painful, surprising, paralyzing. But, at the same time, it was different.

He transformed even before he was outside, pushing his thrusters to their maximum. If he strained himself then at least his spark would have a reason to beat that fast, and he would feel something he could name. Something he had felt before.

 **-o-o-o-o-**

 **Oh my gosh, this was such a pain to upload -.- I don't know why, but I couldn't do it with my computer, and therefore had to use my iPad. And that wasn't too easy either so...** **Either way, it's here. I don't think I changed anything, but if some parts seem weird, please tell me. It might be cause by trying to upload this from two different machines. (And my head is only so big, you know?)**

 **About the chapter: I'm an emotional little lady. That should explain most of it.  
BTW, thank you so much to everyone who has followed/favorited either this story or me. It mean so much, my heart literally started beating faster due to the joy. **

**To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	31. Chapter 31

**I've just spent three weeks in USA, and it was amazing. A beautiful country with some of the** **nicest people I've met :)**

 **Sorry in advance for any and all grammar mistakes.**

 **-o-o-o-o-**

Arcee stood outside the medbay for several cycles, seemingly doing nothing but looking intensely at the door. The truth was, she was having a war inside her mind. Starscream was on the other side of those doors. Starscream was on the other side, healing. And that was so unfair. Very few thing were fair, she'd learned, but some unfairness felt worse than others. This was one of them.

But, she had to accept that. She was working on it, just letting Bulkhead bring him here had been the beginning of that, and she was doing pretty good too, considering. But what she was about to do might turn all that around. Knowing that, she also knew she had to do this. The only reason she hadn't yet was because she didn't think she could be in the same room as him and still remain sane. But, he was soon leaving that room, and who knew how often she'd see him then, even if she didn't let him join her team? She had to get it done before that.

She hadn't been in the medbay on the Nemesis since they questioned Starscream the first time, wanting nothing to do with the place with the seeker in there, and quickly noticed how different it felt now. More doctors and patients gave the place more life, and a different feel. It was still a medbay, but it felt better, somehow. Perhaps it had something to do with the patients looking better, more alive than they had during the war, and the easy conversation that was going between the different bots. She'd been to medbays before, the kind that was packed, with someone on the edge between life and death, doctors never getting any rest, and new patients always coming in. There was work to do here too, but everything was on a slower pace. If nothing else, she knew she liked that part.

Starscream was sitting on a berth, his back to the rest of the room. Arcee noticed immediately a difference about him. It wasn't the way he looked, but rather the way he carried himself. The way he sat, hunched over, head low and shoulders hanging. What that meant and whether it mattered she didn't know, but she still saw it. Slowly, pushing against herself, she walked closer to him.

It was only once she stood right by his berth that he looked up from the datapad he was reading. He looked annoyed, but once he saw it was her, his expression changed. She guessed he thought she was Knockout.

"Arcee." He said, skeptically, but without the usual edge of confidence. He did sit up though, lifting his helm and staring at her questionly.

"Starscream" She answered, needing to begin somewhere. She crossed her arms, putting up a pretend shield between herself and the being in front of her.

"...Can I help you?" He asked, when she didn't say anything more. The way he said it made it sounded more like 'how can I get you to leave?'

"Yes." With great effort she kept her voice even and answered his question. "I need to know what happened to Cliffjumper."

His optics widened for a moment before returning to their previous positions. "May I inquire why you suddenly want to know now?" He dared to ask. Arcee returned his glare with full force.

"Because, Starscream, that is how long it took for me to find strength to not scrap you, even though that is exactly what you deserve." Her words didn't do anything to his demeanor, to her disappointment. They just stared at each other for a while, neither saying another word. And then Starscream began to speak.

"We just located another energon source, and came, with the Nemesis, to investigate further." He spoke a little slower than usual, and didn't take his optics off of her, watching and waiting for some reaction. For now, Arcee managed to keep calm. "Once we came to the location, we saw that Cliffjumper was there too. I deployed some of the troops, and they started to battle." As she listened, knowing the outcome of the story, she felt herself grow more and more sick. "Someone started shooting, I don't know who, and one of the shots hit the energon. It exploded, and, judging from the damage, Cliffjumper must've stood close to it. The drones had to drag him in. I recognized him from our last encounter." Starscream stopped, looking unsure and unwilling to continue. Arce wouldn't have any of it.

"He said something didn't he?" Starscream didn't answer, but she could see the answer in is optics. "What did he say?" Her voice was strained. She dug her digits into her arms, refraining them from grabbing the seeker by his neck.

Starscream must've noticed because he brought one of his arms closer to his chassis, like he was preparing for an attack. "He said…" He hesitated again, just for a short moment. "He called me 'scream', and said it'd been a while." Starscream frowned, but Arcee barely noticed. She had closed her optics. Oh the idiot. Starscream continued. "Then he asked, where my master was." The idiot!

"That's when you killed him, isn't it?" She said, still with her optics closed. If she opened them, the image of her friend would disappear, and she just had to see it a little longer.

"Yes." was the short answer.

"How?"

Silence.

She opened her optics again, looking directly at Starscream. "How did you kill him?" Starscream still didn't answer, instead he was curling and uncurling his digits. Her optics moved from his faceplate to those digits, sharp and… deadly. "You stabbed him." She whispered, moving her optics back to his faceplate. He still didn't say anything. And she didn't trust herself to say anything more.

"...he didn't - he died quickly." Starscream said carefully after a pause between them. "Not painless, but quickly."

Arcee shook her hlm, dismissing his comment. It'd almost sounded like some sort of gesture of kindness, and that was the last thing she could take that from him. "And the dark energon?"

Starscream didn't seem to care of her dismissal. "Megatron arrived shortly after, with the dark energon." Starscream stopped shortly, but not so long that Arcee had to probe him. "He needed to test it." The thought of Cliffjumper's body being used as a labrat made her energon go cold. She looked now to the ground, focusing on her pedes.

"Is there anything else?" She hissed, not so much out of anger but rather to get the word out. They all wanted to stay inside her vocals, and she had to push even the simplest sound out.

"No."

In the silence that continued she could hear Cliffjumper mocking Starscream while being at his mercy. The stupid idiot. Of course he mocked his enemy while he still could, of course he made Starscream want him dead even more. Of course, Cliffjumper didn't stay quiet, like any sensible person would. She even chuckled, imagining the voice, calm and full of sarcasm. Oh Cliff…

Without looking up, Arcee turned around and walked away, not saying another word. What could she say anyway? He wanted her to leave and she wanted to get far away. She wasn't sure if this had been a good idea, but it was done, and now she knew. She knew how her partner had died. She knew how he faced his death. She knew that he hadn't changed.

-o-o-o-o-

Soundwave was… well, he wasn't sure how he was. Perplexed? Unsure, definitely, and disappointed too. Perhaps confused was in there as well.

He had never ever seen Megatron paralyzed before. That was the first reason for his feelings. There was many a times Megatron had been surprised and shocked, uncertain of what to do and near giving up on something. He'd been angry and happy, disturbed and satisfied. Even speechless, though on very rare occasions. But Soundwave could not once recall of ever seeing him paralyzed in that way before.

In a way, he was jealous. Rodimus wasn't even a full orn yet, and he had rendered the most feared individual on Cybertron to a defenceless statue. Soundwave had fought against Megatron once himself, and he had seen him in battle countless times, he knew his strength. If he wanted to, he could've snapped Rodimus back in half with one arm and no effort put into it, but he hadn't even looked able to utter a word. The best Soundwave had ever done was make him tired and give him a few almost deadly wounds, and then laugh at a few good news during the war.

The second reason for his feelings was that, apparently, Megatron did not plan on staying here. Soundwave could not comprehend why. Why would he not stay amongst those who'd followed him through the war, those he'd originally inspired to believe they were more than their caste? Didn't he see that they needed him here? His place had always been amongst the Decepticons, one way or another, so why would that change now? Now it mattered more than ever that they all worked together.

Soundwave was, perhaps for the first time, disappointed in Megatron. He had a responsibility, one he had taken upon himself, and yet it seemed it didn't matter to him anymore. The responsibility was over the Decepticons. They had all joined him in his quest, fought as his soldiers, and laid down their lives for him. They still believed in him, even though he was the one who'd ended their way of life for thousands of vorns. They followed him, some because they didn't know what else to do, and others because they had a change of spark like him. Didn't he care? Or had he forgotten? Either way, Soundwave didn't want to accept that.

"I'm going to convince you to stay." Soundwave tilted his helm in thought.

And again he felt something that might be jealousy, because if any one bot could convince Megatron to stay, it would be Rodimus. And if this brief interaction was a sign of anything, it was that Megatron had already lost. Though, Sounwave still planned on doing his part of convincing, just for good measure.

-o-o-o-o-

Though Starscream hated to admit it, it was a freeing feeling to be walking in the hallways again. The stares and glares he received he could've lived without, as well with his limp, but doing something outside of the medbay seemed to counteract that on such a level that he only got mildly irritated. He was still happy to be outside the closed room.

Knockout was walking beside him, ready to assist if he needed, but otherwise quiet. Thankfully. The doctor had barely left him alone these last orbital cycles, asking more questions than normal and testing the same tests over and over again. Starscream wanted to leave as much has Knockout wanted him to be gone, but was it really necessary with all these tests? He knew how to contact Knockout should anything seem wrong. Perhaps that was where the problem was, that he didn't trust Starscream coming to him on his own. As if he'd ever put his own life in danger.

Though, it might also because of his mentality. Knockout had never said it but he knew he was thinking it. Starscream had been acting out of character and he didn't care, but for a doctor it was definitely something noteworthy. Even perhaps worthy of more study. Starscream huffed. He was tired. There was nothing else too it. Sure, tiredness didn't always last this long and had this effect on him, but losing his capability of flight and having literally nothing to do other than thinking about a past long gone, it was bound to happen. One would think that after so many vorns of war that the good doctor would at least think about that conclusion, but apparently not.

It was three orbital cycles now since he 'broke things off' with Rodimus. First, it was noticeable to everyone that he wasn't getting any visits any more. Never mind the commotion Rodimus' had made the first day, but everyone would wait for the doors to open and for him to walk through it, and when he didn't they all looked at Starscream with a mix of pity and blame. He knew what he'd been doing. He'd chased Rodimus away with the intention of not seeing him again. Whatever they all were thinking, it was the wrong thing.

Second, it hadn't helped much. He was still haunted by the memories of them. With no one talking to him, it was less likely of him bringing them up and thus causing him even more problems, but it didn't change the fact that he was never truly alone. They were always there, plaguing his days with memories and his nights with nightmares. Why now, all of a sudden, where he unable to leave the past in the past? There was a reason he stopped thinking about them.

"I think we should turn back here." Knockout interrupted his thoughts. Starscream stopped and looked around to see how far they'd come.

"I can walk further." He concluded. Much further in fact.

"Maybe, but I still think it would be best if we turned back now." Knockout answered. He stepped closer to let someone else walk past. "Straining yourself won't do you any good, Starscream."

"You are the one who keep telling me I need to train more, Knockout." He snapped back. He didn't want to go back to that cursed room.

"And now you have, meaning you now need to rest, meaning we should go back."

Starscream stared at him for a moment before leaning back against the wall. "Then I'll rest here." He said, crossing his arms in front of him in defiance.

Knockout glared at him with badly hidden anger, curling his servos at his sides in an attempt to stay rational. After a short moment like this, he walked over to stand beside him, leaning against the wall and said. "If you collapse from exhaustion and someone has to carry you back, I'm calling Megatron."

Starscream narrowed his optics and glared at the doctor. "That won't happen." And it wouldn't, but the even the threat of calling him was enough to anger Starscream. Of everyone in the entire universe, Megatron was the last person he wanted to accept help from. And Knockout knew that.

"For your sake, I hope not." Knockout answered, still angry. He shook his helm and vented, clearly tired as well. "But honestly, Starscream, you are making this much harder than it need to be. I'm trying to help you, yet you just keep pushing me away."

Starscream looked away from him and stared ahead of himself instead. He closed his optics and vented as well, but in annoyance. Not another one of these talks. He didn't need this!

"Even though you are leaving the medbay soon, we are still going to see each other as I have to make sure you are recovering properly. Do you really want every encounter to be like this?"

Recovering properly. He huffed, bitterness taking hold of his spark. "It's a bit too late for that." He mumbled. And regretted it.

"What?" Knockout said turning towards him. "What did you say?"

"Nothing." He stood back up again. "I've rested enough, I-" Knockout interrupted him by grabbing his arm and turning him around. His optics locked onto Starscream's, glaring at him with anger.

"That's enough! I've had enough of your pathetic self pity! You walk around like a stupid drone -"

"Let me go." Starscream tried to get his arm out of the grip, but to no avail. Knockout didn't stop talking.

"- and acts like no one has it as bad as you. Well guess what, everyone has problems! And my biggest one at the moment is YOU! Every single moment with you is like fighting the smelting pit!"

"Let me go." He spat, pulling at his arm, this time harder.

"I don't care about your reasons, or how 'awful' this is to you, it gives you no right to make this hard on those who for some mad reason tries to help you! You even pushed Rodimus away! A newspark who didn't want anything but your friendship! Are you that blind that you can't even see that?!"

"Let me GO!" He turned his claws around and wrenched his arm upward, creating large claw marks upwards in a angle on Knockout's chassis. Realising what had happened, Knockout let go of his arm to asses the damage done to his paint.

Starscream stepped back after finally getting his limb back. Knockout hadn't left any marks on him, but he could still feel the exact place where he'd held his arm. The doctor couldn't say the same thing. Five rather deep gashes went from his right grill across his chassis and to his left shoulderplates. There was even a few drops of energon seeping through a few of the places. Not fatal, but it would take some time to buff it away.

"You…" Knockout muttered, completely shocked from the action. Served him right. "You! Do you have any idea-"

"-how long it will take to buff this out?!" Starscream finished for him. Again, surprising the doctor. "Why, yes, Doctor, I do know how long it will take. Three groons and fifteen cycles, to be exact." He rasped, narrowing his optics. "And that is just the buffing, you'll also have to apply new paint, which will take another forty five cycles. But don't fret doctor, after all, you're not the only one with problems." He left once that was said, going in the opposite direction of the medbay. After twenty steps and no sound of anyone following him, he concluded that he'd finally shaken the doctor off his back. And all it took was some scratches on his red paint. Starscream chuckled softly at that.

That was the one thing Knockout never failed at. No matter how long, Starscream was sure that the next time he saw him, Knockout's paint would be all shiny and pretty again. Unlike his wing, paint could be fixed.

Starscream narrowed his optics again. Who was he to judge? Starscream never asked for anyone else's pity. All he wanted was to be left alone, was that such a difficult request? He was training. He was resting. He was eating. He was healing. What more did Knockout want from him? What was it to him whether or not he was mentally fine as long as he was going to do his work? And his relationships, they were his and no one else's. If he wanted to shut everyone else out then he had the right to do that. No matter if he was hurting grown ups or nerwsparks.

Starscream continued to grumble to himself through the halls, coming up with reasons that Knockout was the wrong one here. Still, he truly hadn't meant to make the gashes that deep.

 **-o-o-o-o-**

 **Write a review if you have some thought's you'd like to share. Its really appreciated :)**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	32. Chapter 32

"Starscream." Ultra Magnus' voice interrupted his brooding. Starscream looked up from the floor and saw the commander. He also noticed that he hadn't payed attention to where he'd been going. He was just a few turn away from the bridge.

"Where is Knockout?"

Starscream shrugged. "My guess is the medbay." He'd probably started buffing out his paint.

Ultra Magnus glanced him over, perhaps noticing that he stood a bit askew. His right pede was hurting, so he didn't want to put much weight on it. "Does he know you are here?"

"He keeps telling me I need to train more." Was the answer. Ultra Magnus would probably know about the incident later on, but Starscream didn't feel like reporting it. It was still Knockout's fault anyway, Starscream told himself, so he could report it himself.

Ultra Magnus still didn't look satisfied, but thankfully didn't push the subject. "Alright. I have your assignment ready if you'd like to know." He said instead.

"Yes?" Of course he wanted to know! He hadn't heard anything from anyone about it, only that he'd start as soon as Knockout cleared him. But, the doctor might think twice before clearing him for a while now… Scrap, he wanted to get out!

"You'll be joining one of the energon teams. At the beginning you'll be assigned to a station here on the Nemesis and ready the charts. As your wounds heals, we'll see what else you can do."

He knew it. Energon seeking. And stuck at the Nemesis. What else could he ask for, perhaps his personal guard too?

"You'll be reporting to Arcee, who again will report both to me and Knockout on you progress." Ultra Magnus continued, looking over Starscream's obvious contempt for the assignment. "You'll begin as soon as Knockout clears you for work. I assume Knockout has informed you of our rules and what we expect from you. It is important that everyone is doing their part in order to-"

"Arcee?" Starscream asked, interrupting the commander. "I know this isn't my place, but are you sure there hasn't been some mistake?" It couldn't be right. The two-wheeler despised him for very obvious reasons. Surely Ultra Magnus knew about that, right? He couldn't imagine how many ways it could go wrong with the two of them trying to work together, especially not after she found out just how her partner died.

Her visit earlier had surprised him slightly, and he hadn't been prepared for it per say, but he'd told the truth. Arcee had been, well, she hadn't looked good, to put it that way. If he found out who… killed his partners, he wouldn't be able to do anything but think of how to get revenge. Now, he was very grateful that Arcee didn't plan on killing him, but working together was something else.

"No mistake Starscream, Arcee knows of this." He paused for a moment and let Starscream wonder just how crazy this idea was, only to surprise him again. "Arcee was given the choice, and she accepted. If she changes her mind, you will be transferred, but until then you are reporting to her."

Starscream was still not convinced that there hadn't been a mistake somewhere. "When was this decided?" It was a possibility that she had first accepted, and then changed her mind after asking him about Cliffjumper. She wouldn't have had much time to tell Ultra Magnus then. Starscream frowned at the thought. One would think he would double check with her that this was indeed what she wanted, considering their history. This was just-

"About one groon ago." Ultra Magnus answered.

One groon ago. _After_ her visit with him. She had found out in details how he killed Cliffjumper, and still accepted?

"Why in the universe would she do this?" He thought aloud. Forgetting that Ultra Magnus could hear him. At least it wasn't something strange to think about.

"Only Arcee can answer that question." He told him. As if he didn't know that already. "Is there anything else you'd like to know, Starscream?"

He took a moment to think about that. His very first thought went to Rodimus, to his annoyance - when would he be done with him? - and whether or not Ultra Magnus knew about it. He imagined that Rodimus would tell the entire army about it, but so far nothing had happened to confirm that. Knockout had told him his opinion of course, some of the other doctors had informed him about it, but other than that nothing. He didn't plan to ask though. His second thought went to the assignment. "Has Knockout said anything about when he believes I will be ready to begin?" _Please don't let it be long._

"I am on my way to speak with him now. Would you like to join us?"

 _Scrap, no!_ Was his first thought. Again, he went with the second one instead. "No, thank you. I'd like to take my time walking."

"Then I'll com. you once we've come to a conclusion." And then he was gone. Starscream turned another corner to put some space between himself and the bridge and everyone who was in there, Soundwave definitely being one of them.

Well, he was not leaving the medbay then. There was no way Knockout would've finished repairing the gashes, and Ultra Magnus wouldn't need any help identifying the cause of them. They would both agree that he wasn't ready to do any work, and keep him in the medbay for who know's how long. Or even worse, they would send him to the brig.

His right pede was aching, as well as his back. He'd been walking for war to long. He needed to rest. Considering what waited for him at the other side of the ship, he wasn't in any hurry to get back either.

Starscream took note of where he was and tried to think of anywhere he might be able to rest. There were several rooms, but he didn't know if any had been taken in use in his time stuck to berth. There was an elevator nearby. Was there any places for him to rest anywhere else? One floor down? Up? Up... As far as he knew, the top deck wasn't in use. There might be someone there, but he doubted he would be in anyone's way. It's not like there weren't any room there. Besides, he hadn't been out since… since Rodimus had helped him out. Shaking his helm to get rid of that thought, and then regretting it as he almost lost his footing, he went to the elevator.

The deck was completely empty. Not that it was quiet, the sounds of everyone outside on the ground still reached him, but none of them could see him so it didn't really matter. He could hear laughter and yelling from one side, and guessed that was where the newsparks played, On the other side, there was a more subdued sound of bots talking and working. Starscream took a seat on the floor against the wall just by the door. He didn't want to walk anymore.

The was a very soft breeze from the south he guessed, carefully caressing his sensors. Bending his good leg and leaning his arms on his knee, he then let his still functioning wing take in every part of the breeze that reached him. And for just one moment, he felt pretty dang good. He exhaled loudly. Not even the sounds bothered him right now. Perhaps if he asked nicely, he could be taken outside more often. He was a seeker for sparks sake, and he needed to at least see the outside. Just for a moment.

He woke with a start when someone tried to com. him. How long had he been recharging? If it was too long he'd have to explain how tired he'd been. Only a few cycles? It felt longer, but after double checking, he saw the it couldn't be more than fifteen cycles. Perhaps even less. He felt better at least, so that was good.

"This is Starscream." He answered the com. call.

"Starscream, this is Ultra Magnus." Scrap. He forgot about that. Well, it was nice while it lasted.

"Yes?"

"I've finished speaking with Knockout, and we've agreed that unless you feel it is too soon you can start working tomorrow." What? Starscream sat up and almost banged his helm in the wall.

"Tomorrow?" Was everyone crazy? Had he somehow damaged Knockout's mind as well as his paint? And what had Ultra Magnus put in his energon?

"Is that too soon?"

"No. No, I was just surprised." He answered quickly. Tomorrow? He could get out tomorrow? He was almost excited to look for energon. He must be crazy too then.

"Knockout informed me you've been restless, so we agreed that the sooner the better." Ultra Magnus explained. _Restless_. Starscream held in a chuckle. He was not merely restless, but it was good enough. "Be at terminal 37-D by the eight groon, Arcee will be expecting you then. Your possessions has been moved to a single room at the same level, 75-D. You will still have daily appointments with Knockout, and he'll give you the time for those later."

Starscream was lost. Glad, but lost. "Understood." He simply answered.

"Starscream?" The commanders tone changed and Starscream cleared his helm to listen.

"Yes?"

"Unless it is a medical problem, and Knockout confirms that, I won't tolerate any shunning of your duties."

"Understood." He repeated, not surprised. With that Ultra Magnus cut the link and Starscream slumped against the wall. 75-D. That was his new _private_ room. He couldn't believe it. Finally! He didn't know why or what it would cost, but he didn't freaking care. And he would have something to do for the duration of his days. Yes, it would be horribly boring, and he was working with Arcee, but he could with his servo over his spark say that it would be better than staring at the walls all day.  
And considering he'd just chased away his only frien- distraction - he really needed something more to do.

-o-o-o-o-

Ultra Magnus let his servo fall down to his side and looked back to Knockout. He was going over his chestplate with a buffer, slowly erasing any sign of Starscream's claws.

"This is almost as bad as when he punished me for racing." Knockout mumbled, reminding Ultra Magnus that their relationship had been complicated for quite some time. It didn't reassure him in any way.

"Are you sure this was the best choice?" He asked.

Knockout let out a small laugh. "Doesn't matter now that it's done, does it?"

"Knockout." He said, letting his tone fill in what the word didn't.

The doctor stopped shortly, looked up once, and then continued to buff. "He's not himself. Making him stay won't help, as we've seen, and the only thing left to do is get him some resemblance of normalcy. Not that being stuck in the medbay isn't normal for him." Knockout mumbled the last part. Ultra Magnus ignored that and asked instead.

"And you are sure letting him work won't make it worse?"

"Honestly," Knockout put down the buffer to take a closer look at his work, running his digits over the now slightly smaller scratches. "I'm not sure of anything about him anymore. Where his physical wounds are healing his mental state takes the place. Only I can't help him since he refuses to open up. He doesn't even talk, and that says something about him." He picked up the buffer again and turned it on, on a slower pace this time. "He was doing better when Rodimus was here, but only in the short time he's been gone I've noticed he's getting worse. And I still don't know why he sent him away with the message of not coming back."

"Is there a possibility that he did something to upset Starscream?" Ultra Magnus asked. Knockout answered with a deadpan, but that didn't deter him. "He is a newspark, he doesn't necessarily know when to stop asking questions."

"And Starscream is very good at saying stop. He may not have talked to me, but he talked to Rodimus, and the kid was again a very good listener, as you probably know." That was true. The newspark was quiet and listened as long as someone else was talking. What he said after that however was very unpredictable. "If, and that is a very big if, he said something that Starscream didn't like, I'm betting my paint that he overreacted." That was also a good point. Rodimus could surprise you, and had a tendency to break the rules, but he wasn't rude or mean.

"Is there anyone else that might reach him?" Ultra Magnus didn't want an unstable seeker walking around his soldiers, but he knew very little about Starscream as a person. How this and that would affect him, Ultra Magnus just couldn't know. Knockout knew him better, but considering the way the conversation was going he wondered if that was enough.

Knockout didn't answer right away, clearly thinking hard about the question. "I've been thinking about getting Megatron to talk to him, but I don't know for certain if that will work." He said. "He, as far as I know, knows Starscream better than anyone else, which only proves that irony is worse than a scraplet." Ultra Magnus didn't say anything about it, but he had to agree. At least on this subject. The relationship between Megatorn and Starscream's, during the war, was no secret to anyone.

"When will you contact him about this?"

Knockout looked down at his scratches, clearly thinking that those might be a sign that it was time to do something. He exhaled. «I don't know. It might be best to wait and see how he handles his new job, but…» He shook his helm. «I may have waited too long already.»

«Do you believe it may do more harm than good?» He asked instead when Knockout didn't seem able to decide. This made the doctor chuckle.

«Believe me, Ultra Magnus, whenever they do have this talk, it will either turn out to be a good idea, or big mistake. There is no middle ground with those two.» He had suspected that might be the case. And he'd hoped he was wrong. He was seriously wondering if it'd been a mistake to take in the seeker when Bulkhead found him. And then he remembered that Optimus would've done the same, and dismissed the thought. Besides, second guessing himself never did do any good.

-o-o-o-o-

The newsparks were led inside the Nemesis as the sun began to set. They were so many now, compared to just a few weeks ago. Almost two hundred. It'd been some time since they last located one, and Megatron was hoping that meant there wouldn't be any more for a while.

He was glad to see that new life was being born, its wasn't that, but they needed a system to take proper care of them. To make sure they stayed alive. They were doing fine so far, but… Well, they needed to make sure they would do fine further down the line as well, and not just right now.

Megatron kept thinking about the suggestion to bring back guardians. From his experience, that system hadn't worked very well before the war. But, if they could change it a bit, perhaps that was an option. The guardians wouldn't have much to say educational wise, unlike before when they thought them about the casts, but that also meant they wouldn't have to worry about it. As long as they made sure the newsparks went to class, that wasn't a problem. They would have to look after them when they weren't in class though. Or have some arrangement so they knew what they were up to at least.

That could be done, couldn't it? Most had some experience with looking after less experienced teammates, so perhaps it wasn't an impossible task. Not that he believed it would be easy, but nothing they were doing right now was. And they had to start somewhere.

Something caught his attention from his left. Not, not just from his left, but above him as well. He turned his helm to see who or what it was, and met the optics of the ever plaguing thorn in his side.

Starscream was looking down at him from the top deck of the Nemesis. Red optics glowing bright in the darkening air. They weren't as fiery and alive as usual, but it didn't make the color any less noticeable. He almost looked relaxed, his servos tucked behind him and wings held just a little lower than normal. Megatron wasn't fooled however. Starscream wasn't relaxed, but tired. And one of the wings would never move from that position anyway, so that meant Starscream was putting on an effort to make his wings align. And that again meant that he was trying to hide something.

What was he hiding?

Megatron wasn't presented with any answer, merely a scowl that he could see despite the distance between them. Starscream knew he was reading him, that he was pulling him apart and studying every piece in order to know his very thoughts. That he did so without any effort, and without even thinking, it was merely a reflex. An old habit that had become routine whenever he saw the seeker.

He might've been somewhat proud for the ability if it weren't for the fact that he knew Starscream was doing the same to him. Whether he had the same capacity as Megatron was unsure, but he knew how to read him.

They only stood like that for a moment, enough to get a read of the other, before Starscream turned around and walked away. And Megatron just watched, seeing how each step he made him less and less visible until he was out of sight.

He was about to return tot he ship himself when something in his previous train of thought made him stay rooted in place.

What was it again?

…

 _Out of sight._

Why did that make him stop? He had no idea. He turned the words around, twisted them and tried to see what was so special about them, but still ended up with nothing. Exhaling, he began to walk. Either it was nothing, and he was just tired, or it wasn't as important as he initially believed. Both entailed that he could put it away for the moment and focus on something else. Like how to control those newparks.

 **-o-o-o-o-**

 **I wanted to comment on something from this chapter, but can't really come up with anything...**

 **Hope you enjoyed it, and flee to leave a review!**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	33. Chapter 33

Awkward wasn't the quite right word for this situation. Oh, it was awkward, no doubt about that, but it was more too. Tense, surreal, bizarre, and rather weird. The fact that he arrived just on time, not a little too early or too late, somehow made it worse. But, she had agreed to this. And she would get through it.

Starscream looked just as unsure about the situation as she felt, but didn't utter a word about it. He just greeted her and waited for her to tell him what to do, even though she was sure he at least an an idea, considering her team was looking for energon, and he was in here and not outside. Still, she decided to take it as a sign that he would work with her, and that was a good thing. _One thing at the time, Arcee._ She reminded herself, willing her mind to just follow the procedure for new recruits. _One thing at the time._

"Our team patrols in pairs, and your job is to make sure communication is working between them and the ship." She showed him his station, which merely consisted of a screen and a console. "You know how it works, right?" She asked. Starscream sent her a look that most would've considered rude, but she ignored that, keeping to the procedure. "Just making sure." She explained. Next, she picked up a data drive and plugged it in, a map of Cybertron popping up on the screen wth several red marks on it. "We've been looking into some of the old energon veins, some have started growing again. These marks shows were we've been, and these numbers shows the estimated amount of energon in that vein." She pointed as she talked, keeping her optics on the screen. "Most aren't big enough that it'd be worth mining just yet, but considering the demand for energon is just getting bigger, we need to have a back up plan in case we don't have enough." She turned slightly to him, keeping her voice neutral. "Since you were an energon seeker before the war, I want you to look over the map and mark the places we haven't been that might start producing new veins." Starscream nodded. No comments, no more rude looks. She wasn't sure what she expected. Maybe a bit more… Starscream?

"Soundwave is supposed to help out if the connection fails, so just contact him if there's any trouble." This got an reaction though. A huff of air from the vents, along with a small chuckle.

"If that's the case, then it won't fail on my watch." Was the reply. It was soft and quietly spoken, but she could pick out the detest he had for the former third in command of the Decepticons. There was a little bit of the 'Starscream' part she'd expected. But, now that her expectation was met, she didn't know what she was supposed to answer. What did she say to the new recruits that acted like this?

"As long as you do your job, I'm fine with that." She said after a few moments. Arcee then gestured to the station. "And that's it. You'll be relived at the fourteenth groon, and start again at this time tomorrow."

There was an unnecessary long pause were neither of them said anything. Starscream looked a little puzzled at the small station he was presented with, his optical ridges rising higher over his optics, but he didn't comment on anything about it. After a moment, he stepped up to the console and began typing. The signals of those out scouting for Emerson, currently ten of them, were presented on one side, along with their active life signals. Most of the screen, minus the map, was covered in charts and numberes that represented the communication waves going in and out.

Arcee stayed a little, watching him work few moments. Soundwave was going to watch him, on a camera, so she didn't have to stay. But, she wanted to. Now that she'd done her part, her controlled demeanor was falling away and all of those conflicted feelings were back.

" _Every sentient being deserves a chance for redemption."_ She held in a sigh, instead tasting the bitter taste the memory brought to her.

Optimus… she was sure he would've like this. All of this. Not just that they gave the Decepticons a new chance, but that most of them took it. And, he would've encouraged her to let Starscream make something better for himself. _This one's for you, Optimus._ She thought.

But, it wasn't just for him. In fact, it mostly for her own sake she did this.

She'd recently remembered that time Arachnid trapped her in her web, and was ready to kill her. Starscream had then not only saved her from Arachnid, but also let her go. He'd pointed out the time she'd let him go when she had him at her mercy. " _Consider us even."_

He'd showed that he wasn't completely sparkless, and that he had a bit of moral in him somewhere. It was only one good act against millions of bad ones, but she had to remember it. Because if she did, she might be able to see that same mech, the one that had saved her life, again. And if she could see him as another living being, maybe, just maybe, she could let _it_ go.

The anger, the hate. The feelings of loss and sorrow. That she should've done more. If she could let that go, then she could be free again. And, oh how much she wanted to be free. To just be okay with how things was. She would never be happy that Cliff was gone, but if she could just be okay with it, understand that that was how it was, then she could really move on. And she knew that Cliffjumper would've wanted that for her. He'd always told her the same thing about Tailgate, that she couldn't continue to dwell on it, and he would've said the same thing now.

She was very aware that this was probably a long shot to get her wish, but she figured that trying was the first step in achieving it. And if nothing else, like she'd already established, Optimus would've like it.

-o-o-o-o-

"Tag, you're it!" A shove on his right shoulder made him stumble forward a few steps, before he began running after Springer. Never mind they were inside and running wasn't allowed, when you're it, you're it. And you have to get revenge.

"Come back here you scraplet!" He shouted back, using the name of a 'tiny monstrous being that could kill you within a single moment', as Smokescreen had said. In other words, the perfect description of Springer. He extended an arm to tag back, but was thrown of by a sudden left turn. A blue blur passed him too.

"Haha-you're-too-slow!" Blur laughed as he literally ran circles around Rodimus. Oh, great. Blur was playing too. He was fun and all, but not when playing tag. It was almost impossible to get him.

"Stand still!" He jumped forward to tackle, but only caught the floor.

"Haha!" Laughter from his right made him turn and see both of his friends stand there, just out of reach. "Come on you slow poke." Springer mocked him, sticking out his glossa. Rodimus got up and set of after them, still just out of reach.

They were nearing the ramp that led outside, running past several others who shouted after them. That didn't matter, he was getting closer to them! Just a little more…

As Springer and Blur began running down the ramp, Rodimus lost his balance and fell forward. He tumbled a few more spaces before stopping with a loud "Ow!"

Unbeknownst to him, both of his friends turned to see what happened, and ran straight into someone on their way _up_ the ramp, resulting in a crash. Two additional "Ow!" came straight after that.

Rodimus, who's helm hadn't stopped spinning yet, looked up to see what happened. Springer and Blur was on their afts and holding their helms. At Megatron's pedes.

Megatron, whom hadn't even received a dent, looked down at the two newsparks. "What are you three doing?" He asked, though by the tone, Rodimus guessed he knew precisely what they'd been doing.

"Uh, huh, heh." Springer said, his voice changing from a groan to a 'I-can-explain-this' laugh as he looked up and realized who he'd run into. Megatron raised his optical ridge, not impressed, but waiting for whatever the newspark would say. "Uhm, you see…" Springer began, looking around for something to blame on. Once he looked back at Rodimus though, he forgot all about his excuse. "Rodimus! Are you okay?"

He frowned in response, not understanding why he looked so worried. "Yea-" he stopped a she felt something wet slide down his chin and looked down at the floor underneath him. A small energon pool had began to gather just underneath his faceplate. And, as he realize that he must've hurt himself, he finally registered the pain too. "…ow." He repeated.

Megatron and Blur saw the same as Springer, and all three of them rushed to him, the former warlord reaching him first.

He leaned down beside him and helped Rodimus to sit up. After making sure he wasn't too dizzy to stay upright, Megatron carefully clasped two digits around his shin, lifting it up to look at it closer.

"Does it hurt?" He asked, taking out a cloth and gently dried away the energon. It still leaked, but now Megatron could see the wound more clearly.

"A wittle." He answered, and then realized his glossa hurt too. "Ah think ah bit my gwossa." He said, frowning at the stupid way he talked.

"And a whole lot more." Springer said, his faceplate close to Megatron in order to see too, though he was less calculated in his optics. Megatron looked like he knew exactly what he was doing.

"Oh-no-is-it-bad? Is-he-going-to-be-okay? Should-I-find-a-medic? I'm-really-fast-I-can-find-a-medic-and-"

"That won't be necessary, Blur." Megatron said calmly, seemingly not bothered by the blue color flailing around them in circles. Blur always got like that when he was stressed or worried. Megatron took the cloth and dried away some more energon before tugging Rodimus helm to first left and then right. He looked at the wound a little more before he was satisfied. "Hold the cloth here for five cycles." He said, pressing it on a sore spot just underneath Rodimus lip components. Rodimus lifted his arm and did just that. "If then, after five cycles, still hasn't stopped leaking, you should see a medic."

Megatron stood up once Rodimus nodded. He stood up too, still slightly dizzy. "Won't ith scar?" He asked, thinking about what Springer said. There were some cool scars out there, but he didn't want one under his lip. And besides, how dumb would it be to say you got it after biting yourself when you played tag?

"No, its small enough for the auto-repair to fix. But, if you're worried, you can visit a medic later." Megatron explained. He took out another cloth and cleaned the digits he'd used to lift Rodimus' chin.

Rodimus though about it for a moment, and the shook his helm. "Nah, Ah trust you." He answered. The stupid glossa still wasn't working.

Megatron looked surprised again, his optics widening like they had the other orbital cycle when Rodimus said he'd been looking for him. He did that sometimes when Rodimus said something positive to him. He wasn't completely sure as to why though.

"I'm thankful to hear that." Megatron answered after he got over the surprise. He moved his optics from Rodimus to the two others, standing on his right side. "Now," he said, his voice serious again, "I believe you were about to tell me why you were running _inside_ the ship?"

Springer shrank back, understanding he was supposed to answer. "Well, you see, we were…" he stopped for a moment, his optics going back to the spot they'd run into Megatron. "We were playing a new game!" He explained, his optics suddenly sparkling with badly contained humor.

"A new game?" Megatron repeated, still waiting.

"Yeah, well, not new exactly, but new for us." Springer said, struggling to keep a grin of his faceplate. "The Autobots thought us, it's called Attack Megatron!"

Rodimus looked at Springer in pure shock. How did he manage to come up with that?

Megatron continued to look down at them, his expression not changing much. Other than a small, slightly amused smile. "Really? And did the Autobots fail to inform you of how they usually used weapons?" He answered, humoring them. They didn't mind that, at all.

"No, we're just trying out new tactics." Springer explained, now grinning openly after his joke was well received.

Megatron shook his helm, still smiling, and responded with, "Then I'll inform you that attempting to run me down has already been tried."

Springer stopped then and thought about. "Oh, yeah. You're right." He looked up again. "We'll figure out something new, don't worry about it."

Megatron narrowed his optics again, stating that that wasn't what he was worried about. None of the three newsparks stopped smiling though. All seriousness from the situation was gone. Megatron saw this too and relaxed his gaze, his optics moving back to Rodimus and his wounded shin. "If I hear of any of you running inside one of these ships again, the outcome will be different than this time, understood?"

The boys nodded, and Rodimus knew he at least wouldn't do it. He didn't want to bite himself again, and he was getting _really_ tired of cleaning floors.

After that Megatron said he had work to do and left, continuing on his way inside the ship. Rodimus looked after him as he walked away.

"That was a close one." Springer said, relived. Rodimus then heard him chuckle. "We gotta come up with something that hasn't been done and then surprise him again!"

"That's gonna be reathy hard, Springer. Ah think the Autobots tried everything." Rodimus answered, removing the cloth to look at it. "Is it still leaking?" He asked turning back to his friends.

"A little." Springer said after looking at the wound for a moment.

"But-just-a-little-bit-and-it-hasn't-been-five-cycles-yet-so-it'll-probably-stop-leaking-before-that." Blur continued where Springer stopped. That was good, Rodimus didn't feel like getting fixed anyway. He folded the cloth and pressed a dry part of it against his chin.

"And I know it'll be hard, but that's part of the fun!" They began to walk the rest of the way down the ramp, and then headed to the east side of the Nemesis. "That's the first time he talked to me like that." Springer suddenly said, his tone more serious than usual.

Rodimus turned his helm and looked at him. "What do you mean?" Like what? Didn't he always talk like that?

"Like, well, not so serious." Springer explained. "You know how he talks to the others, all serious and business like?" He made a bad imitation of Megatron, lowering his voice a little and changing his dialect to slightly.

"Yeah, I guess." Rodimus could remember hearing that sometimes.

"But now it was different. Kinda like how we always talk to each other."

"Yes-I-agree-with-Springer. And-he-wasn't-that-angry-either."

Rodimus frowned slightly. "He never talk to me like that." The only time he could remember where it applied would be the first time they met. Other than that, he always talked to Rodimus like, well, not exactly like he talked to Springer and Blur, because Megatron talked a little different than them, but like friends.

"Yeah, but it's different with you." Springer said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Why?"

Springer shrugged. It didn't seem too important to him.

"Maybe-because-he's-known-you-longer-than-us." Blur said. That did make sense, so he went with that.

As soon as the rounded the ship they went up to one of the Autobots and asked what kind of battle tactics hadn't been used against Megatron. Weird looks was all the got in response.

-o-o-o-o-

The day had gone by, not fast, but faster than usual. And he was fine with that. He could do with a little more to do at his station, but he figured that probably came as he got better. And when the Autobots trusted him a little bit more. _Hehe, 'when'. Since when were you an optimist, Starscream?_ He asked himself.

His list of things to do mainly consisted of; read charts, read numbers, check they match, read life signals, check their locations, repeat. Every once in a while he got a call about findings, which lasted barely long enough to relay the details, which he then wrote down, and then it was back to reading and checking. It was just as exciting as it sounded like, but…it was just as exciting as it sounded like. No buts. Still better than staring into a wall though.

Arcee had come and checked on him three times, but he wasn't fooled. Just because he was alone in the room didn't mean he wasn't watched. It wasn't always the case that he knew Soundwave watched him, but this was one of those times he did. How, he wasn't sure, but he just felt it. Not that there was much wrong he could do. The worst would probably be to destroy the console without saving the new findings. And that would only set them back for as long as it took the scouts to repeat what they'd told him. And he wouldn't gain anything from it.

Starscream wasn't in a destructive mode anyway, so he didn't actually consider that as an option at the moment.

It was still annoying him that he didn't know why Arcee had allowed him to join her team. He knew no one had forced her to, and she had several good reasons to say no. He'd considered asking, to satisfy his curiosity, but if it was one of those reason filled with forgiveness and giving second chances and all that, he didn't want to hear it.

 _"There's a lot of reasons, but mainly it's just better for everyone if we work together when rebuilding Cybertron." Rodimus answered, which did sound like something the Autobots would say. "Plus it's only fair. You all fought for a better Cybertron; some of you just lost your way at some point."_

…he just didn't want to deal with that right now.

The rest of his shift went just as the first part: uneventful. Another Decepticon came to take his place, and the only words exchanged was that there wasn't anything to report.

Thinking about what to do next, he realized that he hadn't been off the ship even once since he arrived. He knew they'd been building every day in that timespan, and it probably looked like something now. Something more than an attempt to rebuild their home. He'd seen some of it yesterday, but his view was then blocked by the sight of a former warlord.

Megatron hadn't done anything, just looked at the newsparks entering the Nemesis. Judging by the way he followed them with his optics, he'd been thinking hard about something. A hunch told him it was about the newsparks, probably regarding their safety or how to keep them under control. The part of him that was Second in Command agreed that they needed to find a solution. The rest of him just didn't care.

Though, from the perspective of someone who was now taking part of rebuilding Cybertron and had to live here amongst them, he realized it might be a good idea to do something. He'd heard somewhere, probably a passing conversation, that there was almost two hundred newsparks now. And though that wasn't particularly a large number, before the war it was normal for the Well to give life to around two-three hundred newsparks each time it created new sparks, it was a completely new challenge for most of them. And, in that case, two hundred was a big challenge.

Heh, the Autobots probably hadn't thought too much about that.

Starscream walked quietly through the halls, avoiding any contact whatsoever. He specifically went around the corridor that led to the newsparks rooms, and once he was outside he planned on staying away from the east side of the ship. Though, he could still hear some of the laughter coming from whatever game they were playing.

Now that he paid attention to it, Starscream saw many things that had changed. The biggest change would have to be the amount of refugees that had returned. He'd seen some inside, but now he was overwhelmed with how many they truly where. _They're all coming home._ Not just the Autobots either… there were plenty of bots wearing the Decepticom insignia. As was he.

He doubted it survived the wrath of the Predacons, so Knockout and Ratchet must've re-made it when they repaired him. Did they do that on purpose? He wasn't sure he would've cared if they hadn't, considering that it was now without much meaning.

Starscream looked down at the red insignia placed right over his sparkchamber. He remember the orbital cycle he got it, along with hundreds of others. He'd been so _proud._ He couldn't remember ever feeling that kind of pride ever before, or after. The future had been bright and full of opportunities, and he'd imagined standing beside Megatron once they ended the stupid conflict against the Autobots.

Starscream let out a chuckle, looking up from his musing. Well, that part had at least come true. He'd been there when the war ended, twice in fact, looking to Megtaron for some sort of guidance.

… It had been a long time since he last wanted guidance from Megatron, yet in those moments, it hadn't felt wrong. Starscream chuckled again. Perhaps Rodimus hadn't been too far from the truth. He really must've been blind to ever want _anything_ from Megatron. That or…

Anyway, he couldn't know for sure, but he thought he would've cared. If the doctors hadn't fixed his insignia. Not even in his time alone had he though about removing it, simply because he'd worn it for such a long time. It was a part of him he wouldn't be able to let go of for a while. Maybe never.

The second thing worth mentioning, about the change, would be the buildings. They weren't particularly nice to look at, but they were new and they were without faults. It looked funny, the small barracks, or whatever they were called, standing there with the broken and torn buildings of Kalis in the background. Who knew how long it would take for everything to look new again? It would definitely never be the same as before, but Starscream doubted anyone truly care about that.

It took him a while to notice he was being watched, and not just by a camera. Several bots where keeping their optics at him, even though some did make a small attempt to hide it. No one approached him, thankfully, so he only sent a few uninterested glances before ignoring them again. He continued to walk alongside the Nemesis, not feeling like going too far away from it. Just like yesterday, he could feel a small breeze. He repeated to process of braising it with his good wing, concentrating on not losing his balance while doing so, and felt the familiar rush it gave by having his sensors put to use. Even if it was just a small breeze.

He was getting used to it already. Only having one wing to use that is. It was strange, like being blind in one optic, yet he was very glad to have the fully functioning wing he did have.

He was getting used to that too, he realized. Appreciating the few things he could appreciate. Or, trying to at least. For whatever reason, he was trying.

 **-o-o-o-o-**

 **And this is it for this chapter. I'm pretty sure there's some grammar mistakes in here somewhere, but I can't find them. Point them out if you do! And feel free to leave a review with whatever thoughts you have about the story so far.**

 **Before you leave though, I want to thank everyone who's followed/favorited this. Every time that pops up in my mail I get super excited! Thank you!**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	34. Chapter 34

**Guys, before you continue I have some news! I made a little drawing of Rodimus, so if you want to see what he looks like check out my page on DeviantArt under the same name.**

 **But, even better is that Grandis-Granva, also on DeviantArt, made an adorable little piece of fan art of Rodimus that you definitely should check out! Just check out her page, and you should be able to find it. (But if you have problems navigating on that platform, it took me a while to get used to it, send me a message and I'll see if I can't help you some more)**

 **-o-o-o-o-**

Smokescreen was really glad he'd gotten more responsibility since they began rebuilding. He liked having more important work to do than cleaning and sorting empty energon cubes, and right now there were few things more important than keeping up with how the recruiting process was going, but, he really could've done without the paperwork. Reports on this, reports on that, reading, writing, it was just as bad as everyone always told him. How did Ultra Magnus even stay sane?

After reading five reports, he just wasn't able to read any more. He had a helm-ache and his back was killing him after spending too much time bending over the desk. He needed to sit upright, like Ultra Magnus advised him to, but it wasn't really easy to change a habit. And he'd lost his concentration somewhere. Hopefully no one had stolen it because he could only be on break for so long.

He was at the bridge, he didn't know why but he really liked this room, refueling while taking his break. Minus Soundwave, it was empty. He was working on the computers as usual. After a few cycles of listening, Smokescreen found out that Soundwave was typing fast with precise movements. He knew were every key was, and never once had he needed to erase something. But unlike most, his typing was really soft. It was weird, because whenever Smokescreen began typing fast, he pressed the keys down harder than normal, which also made more noise. How was it possible to not do that? Not that he minded it, he liked the silence surrounding them right now, a little break from everything else, but it was weird still.

He sipped from the energon while just letting his mind wander. He wasn't one to sip his energon usually, but he felt like doing so now. Perhaps his concentration was in the cube, mixed with the blue liquid. Wouldn't that be nice.

The doors opened, and Smokescreen turned to see who it was. Megatron came in, looking around the room. His optics settled on Smokescreen.

"Let me guess," he said as Megatron came towards him. "You have a report to me."

"Yes." He handed him a datapad, which Smokescreen put it on the console next to him. He was still on break.

"Thanks." He said. Megatron nodded and then went over to Soundwave.

It was still strange working with those two. Sure, he wasn't one hundred percent used to Knockout either, but he had more in coming with him, and unlike the two in front of him, Knockout tried to connect to the rest of the team, in his own way. It was very easy to make small talk with him now, and Smokescreen found himself liking the red mech more and more. He was cool, most of the time.

Megatron and Soundwave mostly stayed away from them. Not that they avoided them directly, but they did their work and then continued on. It's not that Smokescreen expected them all to become friends or anything, not by a very long shot, he just thought about it. As far as he knew from what he'd seen, they weren't in much contact with anyone else either, which meant that any free time they had was either spent with each other, or alone.

Well, that wasn't completely true. Megatron was spending a lot of time with Rodimus. Whether he was free or not.

It was kind of funny to watch, how Rodimus would run up next to him and follow him around for however long he felt like. Or was allowed. He was almost always smiling, and seemed to have the time of his life. And Megatron didn't seem to mind it. In fact, and Smokescreen would be the first to say he wasn't that good at reading others, it looked liked he enjoyed it too. He walked slowly, so Rodimus could keep up with him, and Smokescreen had seen him smile at the newspark too.

It was weird, really. Rodimus was, along with all of the other newsparks, the definition of innocence. Sure, he didn't make it easy on them, but you couldn't really compare slacking of schoolwork and killing someone. Even compared to Smokescreen, Rodimus was a saint. Compared to someone like Megatron… well, it would probably be best to not go there.

Though, he felt better about Rodimus being with him than Starscream. Yes, both of the Decepticons were _Decepticons,_ but declaring yourself that the war is over and giving up is different than joining the good side when you don't really have anywhere else to go. He hadn't done anything wrong, but Smokescreen was less sure about him than he was about Megatron. It didn't seem like he'd have to think much more about that though. For some reason of another, the seeker and the newspark weren't meeting up anymore.

Smokescreen raised his cube to take another sip when he realized he'd emptied it. And there went his excuse to not work. Ugh, he still had a hemlache. He did feel slightly better though.

He'd picked up the datapad Megatron had given him, and began too walk towards the door. As if in cue, Megatron turned around and did the same. They walk out the door at the exact same time, and apparently they were heading in the same direction.

Megatron didn't say anything, but Smokescreen felt slightly uncomfortable about it. Walking together, whether meaning to or not, and not saying anything was always weird to him.

"You headed to your room?" He asked, trying to make a little bit of small talk. He saw Megatron turn slightly to look at him.

"No, Knockout requested to speak with me." Then he was probably headed to the medbay. Smokescreen was headed to his room, but it was in the same direction as the medbay when coming from the bridge.

"Oh, okay." He tried to find something to talk about going from there, but the only thing that came up was how Knockout was so relieved to finally having Starscream out of the medbay, and he didn't really feel like he had the right to bring up Starscream up in a conversation with Megatron. Even if he did though, he still wouldn't.

Going back to his previous thoughts, about Rodimus, he remembered something Bumblebee told him earlier.

"Say, you haven't by any chance seen Rodimus today?" He said slightly hesitantly.

Megatron looked at him again. "Why do you ask?"

Smokescreen smiled sheepishly. "Well, I was talking with Bumblebee, and he mentioned that Rodimus, and his two friends, were running around asking about battle strategies." _That had been used against you._ Suddenly he wondered why he thought it was fitting to talk about that.

To his surprise though, Megatron actually smiled. "Did they now?" And he didn't sound surprised.

Smokescreen decided to run with it and nodded. "Yeah, apparently they did. I was just mentioning it since it's not really the kind of question they'd been asking about earlier." He frowned. "Well, maybe Springer, but Blur and Rodimus hasn't done that before."

Megatron continued to smile. It wasn't a big smile, more like the kind you got when you thought about something funny, but it was there. "All three of them ran into me earlier, and the subject was brought up, by Springer I might add. My guess is they decided to continue with it."

Now it was Smokecreen's turn to smile. "That does sound like something they'd do." Especially Rodimus. That guy didn't know when to quit. Not that he was much better, come to think about it.

"Indeed." Megatron's expression turned back to the normal one. The one were he was focused on work. "Though, despite the meaning behind their actions, I do worry they may step over the line one day." He said.

At first, he didn't get what he was talking about. The he remembered back to the meeting they'd all had the other day. "You refereeing to what they said about the newsparks exploring the old city?"

Megatron nodded. "I've seen some of it myself, and agree that there has to be established some way for us to make sure none of the newsparks are hurt."

Smokescreen could see that. The newsparks were so energized that it was impossible for a few bots to keep up with them, and so there would be those who got away and entered areas that were less than safe.

"Yeah, it would probably be a good idea. I guess that was one of those ares we were less prepared for than others." He said. Megatron nodded again. Smokescreen thought back to that meeting, remembering some of the solutions that'd been mentioned. "Have you thought about what to do?" He asked, genuinely curious. He hadn't had time to think too much about it, having enough with his own work.

Megatron didn't answer right away, but Smokescreen could tell he was thinking. "I've given the idea of guardians a lot of thought. It may not be ideal, considering how few has experienced with newsparks, but it is perhaps the best solution for everyone in the end."

Smokescreen nodded, and then let out a small chuckle as a crazy thought came to him.

"Well, I have a feeling Rodimus would be over the moon if you decided to become his guardian."

Everything stopped, even his spark, as he realised he'd actually said that _out loud._ He hadn't realized he was saying it before the words were out of him, and now he wanted nothing more than to take them back. Sure, they were true, but really not something he'd ever planned to say to Megatron. For several reasons.

Megatron had stopped at the exact same time as him, and was now looking at him with an expression Smokescreen didn't know how to describe, neither did he want to. The only he he did know was that he was just as shocked at the comment as Smokescreen.

He tried to say something that might save the situation, but his processor didn't work. For once, he wouldn't mind being stuck in the wall. Preferably out of sight.

"I wouldn't know the first thing about taking care of a newsparks." Megatron finally broke the silence, his voice calm and matter-of-fact like. He turned sharply and continued to walk. "And I would be last anyone wished to give that kind of responsibility."

He was correct on that notion. Warlord, possessed by Unicron, former gladiator; not exactly an ideal list of traits to have for raising a newspark.

"Uh, I was… only talking about Rodimus. I didn't, um…" he trailed of. " _I didn't meant you actually could do the job"_ didn't really seem like the right thing to say either.

Megatron either didn't hear him, or didn't care for whatever else he had to say - which was totally understandable - and simply continued without him.

He really wanted the wall to eat him right now.

-o-o-o-o-

There was so many emotions going through him he was worried he might faint. His spark was working overtime, again, while he did his best to walk calmly to the medical bay, Smokescreen's voice continuing to play in his helm.

Who did he think he was, suggesting that Megatron taking on that type of work?! He was a leader, someone who took on the role to point others in the right direction. He gave orders and they were followed. He talked and the masses listened. He had the physical and mental powers to move mountains, and that Autobot suggested he would set all that aside to raise a mere newspark? To readjust everything he did so it fit the schedule of some pathetic, little, naive glitch that had no understanding of how the world functioned?

The guilt hit hard and fast, sending out jolts of pain through his entire body, as he realized what he'd thought and who he'd thought about.

He didn't mean that. He hadn't meant it like that.

Sidestepping into a lesser used hallway, he began to collect his thoughts, only then noticing that his servos were shaking slightly. He shook his helm. Why was he so upset by this?

It wasn't because the role itself was anything he saw as demeaning, not they way many others did. If he did, he wouldn't suggest it as an solution. Proper guardians would be able to keep the newsparks safe and alive. They would be an example for how to live, and teach them good habits and morals. The perfect description of what Megatron wasn't. He'd started the war for Cybertron's sake! And for what reason? Because he wanted to be Prime? Because he was angry? What good life lesson that was. He knew nothing of how to take care of someone other than himself, he was the very embodiment of bad moral.

He was not guardian material.

It certainly wasn't because of Rodimus. If it was, Megatron wouldn't have let him spend so much time with him. If it was, he wouldn't have let _himself_ become so attached to him a he had. No, Rodimus was not the problem. He was anything but, in fact. He had his faults, but he was a only newspark, he didn't know any better and needed to learn the hard way. Just like everyone else.

And he wasn't a pathetic glitch either.

" _Well, I have a feeling Rodimus would be over the moon if you decided to become his guardian."_

Primus, Smokescreen was right. He would be exited by those kind of news. Rodimus trusted him, even though he knew more than enough to want to stay away from him. He wasn't even sceptic about him or his actions. He'd seen it, every time he looked into his optics, that the newspark would believe him if he said he was Primus himself.

It hurt, actually. He didn't deserve that kind of trust. It wasn't as shocking as when Rodimus hugged him, but it was the same pain. A dull ache, coming from his chest and spreading out to his arms and helm. It was around his throat too, warning him that if this situation continued down the same road, it would start squeezing, making him unable to speak. It had already happened once.

Why did he have to find Rodimus in that storm? Why did it have to be someone who was so naive and trusting that he just didn't see what was really there? And why did he have to choose Megatron, out of all the bots that he could choose from why the worst of them?

" _Wait, you're not coming with me?"_

Rodimus had looked so confused when he said that. Thinking back, it was to be expected since he hadn't met anyone else, but the fact that he didn't let it go didn't make sense. He didn't let Megatron go, even when he met others and heard the whole story.

Megatron let out a heavy sigh, straightening his posture.

Rodimus 'chose' him from the beginning, didn't he? Stubborn little thing…

He shook his helm again to clear his thoughts, knowing Knockout was waiting for him. He couldn't let this get to his processor, no matter how confusing it was. Or, at least, wait until he had some free time.

" _-Rodimus would be over the moon if you decided to become his guardian."_

"He would, wouldn't he?" Megatron mumbled to himself. He began to walk again, heading to the medbay.

Too bad Megatron wasn't guardian material.

-o-o-o-o-

By the time he entered the medbay, he was in complete control of himself again, ready for the next task.

Knockout was reading a datapad when he saw Megatron. He immediately put it away and stood straighter. Megtaron guessed it was mostly out of habit.

"Megtaron." He said, his voice faltering a little. He was almost used to that now. Some Decepticons didn't seem to know how to refer to him. After all, he wasn't their 'Lord' anymore, but he didn't really have anything else they could call him by. There was a few who called him by name, a few more used 'sir', but most had returned to calling him 'Lord' and 'Master'. He once attempted to correct a mech, saying he wasn't his master anymore. The answer had been "with all due respect, to me you always will be." He hadn't been able to come up with a response after that.

"Knockout." He greeted back. "You wished to speak with me?"

"Yes, thank you for coming." He then looked around the room skeptically. "Lets, talk privately." He said, leading him to another room that was normally used for documentation. Megatron made sure the door closed behind them, since the doctor obviously wanted this to be a private conversation.

"Knockout?" He asked when the red mech didn't say anything. Knockout bit his lip while thinking, his optics aimed at the wall behind Megtaron.

"It's about Starscream." He began, meeting Megatron's gaze. "He's not himself."

Megatron had suspected this was about the seeker, but not that Knockout would be so serious about it. "Go on."

"Well, for staters, he barely talks, and that's a bad sign in itself. He answers the questions, sometimes he ads a rude comment, but that's it. Not even an attempt at conversation, and he won't accept any from me either. All he does is brood in silence." Knockout ranted, and the more he talked the more aggravated he got. "At first I had to force him to train, now I'm worried he will at some point pass out from exhaustion. The same goes for refueling. Suddenly he just wanted to get better, all on his own. Then there's the fact that he's completely closed of, and I don't just mean that he isn't talking. It's like he's completely lost in his own mind, only coming out when someone's speaks to him, and he's not even attempting to hide it." Knockout stopped and collected himself. He looked slightly bothered that he'd lost his professionalism, but Megatron only took it as a sign that things were getting serious. It bothered him though that he hadn't known of it before. Or at least gotten the suspicion. He knew Starscream was handling the situation differently than normal, but not so much that he could be defined as 'not himself'.

"I suppose what I'm trying to say is that I'm out of options and, since you've known him longer than me, I'm hoping you might have some information that could help the situation." This was said with a bit of hesitation, and given the history between him and the seeker it was understandable, but Megatron was only half paying attention. The other part of him was back to the war, listening to another doctor explain that Starscream's condition wasn't getting better. That time it had been no physical injuries, only the loss of two close friends. The other doctor hadn't said it the same way, but the condition had been diagnosed with 'not himself'. Why did the same problems have to repeat themselves over and over again?

"How long as this been going on?" He asked.

Knockout thought about it. "Since he heard about his wing, I think. It wasn't drastic, but rather a slow process were he slowly got worse, mentally." He frowned. "In the beginning, I thought it was just an reaction to the injury of his wing, but now I'm not so sure anymore. Or maybe he's reacting differently than I thought."

Megatron had seen it too, a slight difference in the seeker, when he visited him in the medbay. Like the doctor, he'd thought it was about the wing. It was still part of the problem, but Megatron was sure it was only one piece of the puzzle that was dragging Starscream down. Among the other parts there was -

"How has he changed since he sent Rodimus away?" He didn't bother with an explanation as to how he knew. Knockout could probably guess it anyway.

"He's only gotten worse." Knockout answered without thinking twice. "Rodimus actually got him to talk, unlike me. It might not have been about the matters I wanted to bring up, but at least he was doing something other than staring into a wall."

Megatron mused over the facts for a moment. "Why do you think Starscream talked to him?" He was pretty sure he knew why, but since Knockout had been there and seen it all first hand, he wanted to hear what he had to say.

The question must've surprised him, because it took a while for Knockout to answer. "The first reason would probably be that Rodimus looked up to him, and we all know how much Starscream likes attention. Or used to anyway." Knockout mumbled. "Rodimus was also generally nice to him. Asking questions, listening to him when he talked. Though, I think Starscream simply just liked Rodimus. Or at least learned to after some time."

"And why do you say that?"

"Well, he is just a newspark. And he would sometimes step over the line, say something inappropriate or talk disrespectfully, but Starscream seem to care _that_ much about it. And," Knockout made a small gesture towards Megatron. "Rodimus also mentioned you a lot. I honestly don't think Starscream would've tolerated that just for the sake of some attention."

Knockout did have a point there. Other than that though, his explanation was just what he'd expected it to be. Nothing out of the ordinary.

"When Starscream does talk, does he ever mention anything that you'd consider unusual for him?"

Knockout tilted his helm in thought before shaking it. "No, not really. What he says is like him, it's just that he does it much less than before."

And with that, it clicked.

Starscream didn't do _less._ He didn't have it in him. That was why he'd been confused the other evening. _Out of sight_ wasn't part of his programming either. He preferred to be the centre of attention. The reason he didn't like Soundwave or Shockwave was because they took some of the spotlight he saw as rightfully his. He'd make a big scene out of everything he did just to have everyone's attention a little longer. And he drank it all in, savoring every single moment of it.

That was what he was supposed to do. It was what you expected of him because that was what he'd always done. When he acted differently, you knew something was up.

"This is an interesting development." He said, without revealing any of his other thoughts.

Megatron had payed too much attention to the similarities from when Starscream lost his friends that he hadn't payed enough attention to what was new. Starscream hadn't lost anyone this time. He didn't have anyone to lose. His damaged wing was probably the start, but not the main reason. Meaning that something else was putting his seeker out of commission.

"That's one way of putting it." Knockout said hesitantly. Megatron didn't hear though, just as he didn't register how he thought of Starscream as 'his' again. His soldier, his air commander, his second in command. Old habits did die hard.

"Um, Sir?" Knockout's voice found its way through his musing. Megatron looked down at him again. "Do you have any…" He waved with his servos, as if looking for the right word in the air, "something, that could be useful to get Starscream out of his shell?"

Megatron - whom didn't fail to notice what he was sure was a human term - wondered if he actually did have anything other than mere speculations. He wasn't an expect on the subject of either medicine or psychological illnesses. The only thing he did know, was Starscream. And he would consider himself an expect on anything that involved him.

"Has he done anything else noteworthy?" He asked, wanting to get all the important details.

Suddenly, Knockout seemed uncomfortable. His optics left Megatron's and he shrank back slightly. "Nothing new, no." The doctor said.

Megatron narrowed his optics. "I said _noteworthy_ , Knockout."

The doctor cringed while a hundred thoughts seemed to go through his mind. "Well, yes. Kind of."

"'Kind of'?"

Knockout exhaled loudly, obviously not enjoying this. Megatron didn't back down however.

"Two orbital cycles ago, he was training by just walking through the halls." Knockout began slowly. "After a while, I thought it best to turn around. Starscream didn't agree. I got mad and grabbed his arm, and he slashed my paint in order to get free."

"He harmed you." Megatron clarified. His puzzlement turned into frustration. Why hadn't he been informed? Starscream was acting up, and no one, not even Soundwave, had said anything?

"Ultra Magnus knows!"'Knockout added quickly. "And after hearing my report, we agreed that locking him up wouldn't do anything. He is a flyer after all, and since he's already been cooped inside long enough it would probably just make it worse."

Megatron didn't care about whether he'd been punished or not, only that he hadn't been informed. That he hadn't made any sign that he should be informed. That was clearly a mistake, one he needed to make right.

"I'm going to have a talk with him." He said, turning to leave.

"Are you sure that's such a good idea?" Knockout's voice was higher now, more nervous. "This is Starscream, after all."

Megatron stopped and looked back at him. "Didn't you ask for my help?"

"Yes, but," Knockout was fidgeting, his servos folding and unfolding themselves in front of him. "I don't know what'll happen if it gets worse…"

"I don't intend to let that happen, Knockout."

 **-o-o-o-o-**

 **Things are starting to happen! On several different levels...**

 **I just realized that Starscream and Rodimus have sort of the same effects on Megatron. Starscream is the old problem he never managed to solve, mostly bad. Rodimus is the new one he has no idea how to handle, mostly good. One he has lots of experience with, the other none at all. Great job Megatron!**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	35. Chapter 35

Starscream had stopped by one of the side entrances of the Nemesis, feeling like it was a good place as any to rest. No one had used the door yet, and that was fine by him. When he felt like it, he could just go inside without much effort, but for now he was content with just leaning against the hull of the ship and watching everything else around him. It was a lot more to look at than the walls inside the medbay.

There was was less activity now than when he first got outside, but still more than enough. Most of what he saw was bots coming and going somewhere, builders in the background, and then those who didn't seem to do anything more than him. They were probably on break or something.

There were few newsparks, thankfully, and those few that were running around hadn't noticed him. Still, he kept his optics open for an orange and purple one, knowing he wouldn't be hard to spot. He'd figured out that it was somewhat strange he hadn't stumbled across him yet, both on and off the ship. He had also thought the newspark would try to talk to him again, try to convince him to become friends again or something like that. Though, Rodimus had looked very surprised and angry after Starscream said he didn't become friends with newsparks. He supposed it must've gotten to him.

The fact that he wasn't leaving his helm however was bothering him. Rodimus was just an ordinary newspark that somehow came in contact with him. A stubborn, Decepticon interested newspark that also happened to idolise Megatron, but that didn't mean anything. If anything, that should've pushed him away from Starscream. Surely, Megatron had said a few negative things about him that should've made Rodimus want to stay away from him.

Unless, of course, Megatron had done the same thing has he had, and tried to avoid saying anything negative about the other for Rodimus' sake, but why would he do that?

 _Why would you do that?_ A voice taunted him. He told it to shut up.

It didn't matter anyway. If things continued like this, chances were Rodimus would forget about him completely, right? He couldn't hold on forever to whatever idea he had about them, he had to let go at some point. He couldn't be _that_ stubborn.

Oh, but the irony if he was. Few beings were as stubborn as Megatron, and if Rodimus turned out the same way it would be as if Megatron taught him. Starscream could picture it in his processor; 'lesson number one, make Starscream's life miserable'.

He frowned immediately at that thought. He could and would admit one thing, the time spent with Rodimus hadn't been miserable. Sure, he never ran out of questions to ask or things he wanted to share about his day, but it hadn't been bad. It was actually quite fun, watching the little optics gain more and more knowledge in them. Problem was it had been… too self reflective. And he wasn't really good at those kind of things, nor did he like the feeling it gave him.

With that thought though, he realised that self-reflection, as well as reflection on everything else, was precisely what he'd done since he ended up in the medbay, with and without Rodimus. Why did everything end up opposite of what he wanted?

Starscream vented, emptying his helm to get a little peace. The temperature was mild and comfortable, but he still felt uneasy all of a sudden. He turned, wanting to distinguish what made him feel that way, and looked for the source of it.

He found it quickly in the form of Megatron. Walking towards him. Great.

Part of him wanted to run and hide. He wanted to avoid that mech like he was a living plague and never have anything to do with him ever again. Another part noticed and recognised the look on that faceplate, a look that meant he planned something that Starscream didn't like. And that part wanted nothing more than ruin it for him.

He remained where he stood while Megatron came closer and closer.

In hindsight, Starscream didn't think either of them noticed how easily they slipped back to the old routine. The bad one. The one were both knew this wouldn't end well, yet neither planned on stopping it. Though, they both learned that it took more than a mere wish to change. It was an effort that they had to implement every single, waking moment. One they would fail in about two cycles.

"Starscream." He stopped just an arms length away, like he'd done so many times before. All he had to do was take another step and reach out, and he'd have Starscream's neck in his servo again.

"Megatron." He didn't back away however, despite the flood of memories from how these conversations usually ended. He straightened his back and aligned his wings in an effort to appear indifferent and in control of himself. For a long moment, neither of them said anything.

"What do you want, Megatron?" He asked impatiently, and rudely. On purpose.

The larger mech narrowed his optics at the tone, but remained silent for a little longer. His gaze didn't leave Starscream's, searching for something he didn't seem to find.

"I've just had a conversation with Knockout." He began, speaking slowly.

Starscream nearly lost it then and there. Out of all the possible options to choose from, he never thought Knockout would go to Megatron. It didn't matter their history, it didn't matter that Starscream wasn't completely fine, he never would've expected Knockout went to the one mech who had caused him so much pain.

"So you're playing nurse then?" He countered.

There was growl, building up in the former gladiator as he too got caught up in the old routine. To his credit though, he still tried to fight it, whether it was consciously or not. "I came here to talk, Starscream."

"Talk, you say? Well, forgive me for being sceptic then, I'm only remembering all the other times you just wanted to _talk_."

There was a moment of complete silence, the moment between registering an action, and reacting to it.

Megatron's optics darkened, a mix of anger and regret, something Starscream had never seen before in those optics. He wasn't sure what to feel about the last one, but couldn't help but scoff inwardly. It was rather late for that now, wasn't it?

"Very well. If you don't want to talk, then remain silent." Megatron answered. A grin formed slowly on his lip components. "After all, I don't need you to talk in order to know what you are thinking."

He hated that. When he was reminded at how easy Megatron could read him. How, no matter how much he tried to hide his inner thoughts, there was a big possibility it didn't matter. Thankfully, he knew how to respond.

"Just remember how that goes both ways, _master._ " He sneered out the old title, as he'd done countless times before, like it was venom on his glossa.

"Is that so?" Megatron leaned in, closing the distance between them slightly.

Starscream wasn't the least bothered however, he'd seen that move coming. He didn't get intimidated _that_ easily. "Oh, you want me to prove it? Fine." He made a show of looking over the others chassis, as if there were small signs that'd let him know what to say. He didn't need that however. He knew Megatron, he knew what he could do, what he was good at. And what he was not good at. "I see a former gladiator who has no idea what he's gotten himself into." A small flicker of surprise let him know he'd been right. He chuckled. "Oh, yes. I can tell. I saw it when you gave that oh so humble speech to the refugees." He continued. "You want peace, yet for the last thousand vorns, your version of peace was killing anyone who disagreed with you. Now you follow the Autobots like a puppet, hoping that it somehow can make up for your twisted actions. Well guess what, Megtaron?" He lowered his voice to a harsh whisper. "It won't."

Megatron took a deep intake, a sign that he was fighting to control himself. Had he been himself, Starscream would've backed away, focused on putting distance between himself and those deadly fists. He wasn't himself however. He was tired and angry. Megatron wanted to talk? Then he was for once going to listen to what he had to say!

"Are you done?"

Starscream narrowed his optics. "For now."

Megatron nodded. "Good. Then it's my turn." He straightened back up, placing his servos behind his back. For a short moment it looked like he was only about to give a mundane report about the ship. " _I_ see a small mech whom is determined to dig his own grave, deeper and deeper, as far from any other living being as possible, yet unable to comprehend why no one wants anything to do with him. However, should he be lucky and someone does want to be his friend, he does everything he can to push them away."

Starscream swallowed something hard and painful, determined to not show any emotion other than indifference. Megatron continued, his voice gaining a sharp edge, aimed at Starscream's spark.

"And now, now that he finally might have a chance to get out of his pitiful hole, he no longer has the physical capability to do it." Megatron sneered. "I know, Starscream, why you let yourself be scared of a mere newspark. I know that it had nothing to do with him, and everything to do with you."

 _No._ He felt his spark skip a beat when he realised where this was going.

"Or more specifically," Megatron tilted his helm, the tone turning bitter sweet. "Your past."

"Stop." He said. Megatron didn't get to talk about them. He hadn't known them.

"I am well aware of my wrongdoings, Starscream. As you so politely pointed out, I'm not afraid to admit it." Megatron ignored his plea. "You, however, are unable too look at the past and see your mistakes, let alone learn form them, and are therefore destined to make the same mistakes over and over again. It makes me wonder; what would Skywap and Thundercraker think, if they could see you now?"

He said the last part with such a low voice only Starscream would hear it, but hear it he did. No one had said their names in such a long time he'd actually forgotten what they sounded like out loud.

He didn't notice how they were attracting attention from others, though they both should've expected that. The Decpeticons undoubtedly recognised were this was going, and the Autobots probably didn't know how to react, but weren't able to look away either.

Starscream had always appreciated what he thought was an unspoken understanding between them, that his wingmates weren't brought up in any conversation whatsoever. Now, feeling betrayed in a way he didn't believe possible, despite not being promised anything, he aimed as low as he could, wanting to hit Megatron were it hurt most.

"So, you do know how to read other bots." He nodded while speaking, as if this was interesting information. Megatron looked surprised, expecting some other kind of reaction. Good, then this would shock him even more. "Does that mean you're trying to take over the role of both Soundwave _and_ Optimus?"

He heard several shocked gasps from those that were close enough to hear, but he was only interested in how the being in front of him would react.

Megatron's surprised expression turned to shock as the words registered. So much that his shoulders sagged, and for a moment the optics lost every wall, making it possible for Starscream to see straight into his spark. The moment passed before he got a good look, but he did know one thing: he'd hit the right mark.

"What is wrong with you?" Megatron's voice was so soft that it was barely recognisable. Starscream had never heard him talk that way before, and he'd heard many different versions of that same voice.

"What's wrong with me? I joined a delusional fool's cause that I only now learned was destined to fail from the beginning." He voice rose to its higher tones, but he didn't care. He was so angry. "I gave everything to your damned cause! I broke every rule, made every sacrifice, payed every price, for _you_! And I _lost_ everything, because of you!" He'd stepped closer, pointing at Megatron with a shaking servo. "And what did I ever get in return, other than more pain?"

"I recognised your efforts." Megatron answered immediately, pointing back at Starscream. "I made you my air commander, I made you my second in command. I put the life of every soldier in my army in your servos because I believed that you could be trusted! And what did that ever give me, other than an ungrateful traitor whom attempted to kill me every chance he got!?"

There was a commotion coming towards them, but neither of them registered it. They were so caught up in their own, personal war that the rest of Cybertron could go under without either knowing about it.

"Second in command over what?! A meaningless cause were every warrior was just as blind as their leader!"

"And with a commander that never learned his lessons, loosing battles and lives all because of his own ego!"

"You're one to talk about lives! You, who sent his soldiers to their deaths in a attempt to gain the smallest of victories!"

"And what of you, leaving the army behind in pursuit of your own interests, only to come crawling back when you had nowhere else to go!"

He could now hear the voice of Ultra Magnus, demanding to be let through.

"I wish I'd never returned!" He said, his voice harsh from the shouting.

"And I wish I'd chosen Dreadwing!" Megatron answered. The words sent cold dread through his chassis, which lasted long enough for the Autobot leader to break through the crowd.

"That's enough! Both of you, step beck this instant!"

Neither of them moved, both frozen in place by an invisible force only they could feel.

"I said," the was a the sound of transformation before they both had two guns pointed to either of their helms. Might stun, might not. Either way, they would be damaged. "Step. Back." The tone said he would not repeat himself again. Swallowing again, Starscream took a step backwards. Megatron followed suit.

"Bulkhead, Bumblebee, escort Starscream to his room." Ultra Magnus said. At once, the two Autobots stepped up beside him.

"Megatron." He turned to the other mech. "You will follow me back to your room." From the corner of his optic, Starscream saw Soundwave next to Ultra Magnus. Looks like he'll have a lot of work to do. Starscream didn't turn to look at him. He still kept his optics on Megatron, whom returned the gesture.

"I _hate_ you." He spat out just as one of the Autobots took his arm and gestured for him to turn around.

"Oh, not as much as I hate you, Starscream." Megatron answered, and then turned around himself.

"Everyone else, back to work!" Ultra Magnus voice carried through all the murmurs, and the crowd slowly parted.

Starscream walked as if he was in a trance, not noticing anything around him. He realised he was trembling when he came to his room. His servo refused to stay still, making it hard to press in the right code that was needed to open the door.

"Ultra Magnus will come by later." One of the Autobots said. His mind didn't register which one of them. "We'll wait outside until then."

He went inside, the doors closed, and he was alone.

Both his servos shot up to cover his intake, refusing to to let the Autobots hear his ragged intakes and sobs. Lubricant began falling from his optics, trailing down his faceplate and in between his digits.

His knees gave out, sending him down to the floor. And there he stayed, making every effort to stay silent.

-o-o-o-o-

The world around him was blurry from the tears he tried to hold back. He decided to wait for the adults to walk away first so he didn't trip or crash into someone.

He hadn't seen anything, but he'd heard enough.

"Rodimus-are-you-okay?"

Blur stood right beside him, they'd been playing when they heard the noise, looking at him with worry.

He shook his helm.

A blue servo was place on his shoulder. "It's-probably-not-as-bad-as-looks-like." Blur said, trying to reassure him.

He hoped so. He really, really hoped so.

 **-o-o-o-o-**

 **You know when you meet someone, and it just klicks? Like, you meet them, and you just want to brutally kill them? I think these guys have been through that at least...**

 **Becase this is a little short, I'm posting the next chapter right away.**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


	36. Chapter 36

It took him the two cycles and 14 kliks to get to his room to fully comprehend what had happened and his part in it. And when he did, it only worsened his mood.

He slammed his fist into the wall, denting it and breaking two of his digits. He cursed. Of the situation he'd just created, not the pain. The pain was nothing compared to this.

"What. Happened?" A strong voice said behind him. He hadn't realised that Ultra Magnus followed him into his room.

Megatron only shook his helm.

What indeed happened? He only wanted to talk! He'd only planned to talk. He hadn't expected it to go smoothly, but nothing had made him think it would end like it had.

He should've known, when he saw the way Starscream looked at him. He should've known this would've happened. No. He had known. What he should've done was turn around and leave. He should've contacted Starscream differently and told him to meet him somewhere private. He should've…

He shouldn't have let Starscream get to him.

"Megatron."

He clenched his jaw in order to hold his glossa, refraining from saying anything more he would regret. Because he still might.

"I lost my temper." He said simply, having no other way of explaining it.

When Starscream just _had_ to point out the past like that, he'd lost it. Because when Starscream pointed out Megatron's mistakes, all he could think of was all the things the seeker had done against him. The countless lies and snappy remarks that didn't have any other meaning than to anger him. The backstabbing that only got more and more deadly as time went by.

"You lost your _temper_?" That wasn't the answer the Autobot wanted to hear, judging by his tone.

It'd only taken a few words aimed the right way, and he was back to the old habit of hurting Starscream any way he could.

"- _what would Skywap and Thundercraker think, if they could see you now?"_

Something in him had wanted to get Starscream to wake up a little, to realise he was his own worst enemy. However, he couldn't remember what made him bring up the subject he knew would hurt the most. What had gone through his processor that made him that that was a good idea?

Of course, Starscream would then react with an attack he knew would hurt back.

" _Does that mean you're trying to take over the role of both Soundwave and Optimus?_

He hadn't seen that coming, never in a million lifetimes. He hadn't thought it would hurt so much either. It wasn't the fact that he'd been somewhat compared with Optimus, but the indication that he was trying to take over for him that hurt. Because he wasn't. Never. He wasn't worthy of calling himself a former friend even, he'd never do anything to try to take over. Optimus deserved a good successor, someone who would follow his ideals and his beliefs.

Someone like Ultra Magnus. With the support of team Prime, Megatron believed he'd continue were Optimus left of. That was why he didn't have any qualms with letting him be the superior leader. Why he'd taken orders from him. Why he'd wanted him to trust him to do his job right.

And now, whatever trust had been there was gone.

"Do you have any comprehension of what you've done?"

Proven to everyone he was no different than before. That he hadn't changed.

Megatron vented heavily, closing his optics in defeat. He'd really thought… he'd wanted to believe he had actually changed. That he wasn't just 'awake', but also different. Better.

Clearly, he'd been wrong.

He turned around, putting his wounded servo in his good one. "Put the trust we've build up at risk of being shattered." He answered.

Ultra Magnus was angry. Part of him was glad that the Autobot at least didn't feel he needed to hide his anger from him.

"Yes. That is exactly what you and Starscream have done. Both Autobots and Decepticons saw and heard you two. Rumors will spread, and we may very well have a riot by this time tomorrow." He said harshly. Megatron knew it wasn't that unlikely. Not with the example he just presented for them all.

"What do you want me to do?" He asked, knowing the Autobot had some plan on how to handle the situation.

"For now, remain here." Ultra Magnus crossed his arms. "Since neither of you physically hurt the other, I don't feel the need to send either of you to the brig. However, you caused a disturbance like no other, and I cannot let that go unnoticed. No matter your position."

He hadn't even truly realised the onlookers until well into the fight, and even then it didn't register what that would do. How that could hurt the newfound peace. He'd joined them to help them keep the peace, not break it apart.

"I understand." He answered. And he really did. Confinement to their rooms was a way to let the others know that the situation was being handled, while at the same time not taking it beyond what was acceptable for having only a verbal fight. Thank Primus neither of them had turned to physical attacks.

Come to think of it, it was in fact quite strange that both had only kept to verbal insults.

" _I gave everything to your damned cause! And what did I ever get in return, other than more pain?"_

No, not only insults. It's started with insults, but ended up differently.

"I should've talked with him sooner." He concluded. He had thought about it so many times, but decided against it every time. Now he regretted that.

"And how would that've helped in any way?" Ultra Magnus said. Honestly, Megatron hadn't realised he'd said it aloud. Great. He was really losing himself.

Him and Starscream had for quite a long time been avoiding talking about the why's of how things came to be the way it was between them. Why they were both so angry at the other. However, after enough backstabbing and disobedience, after countless beatings and threats of offlining, it was only to be expected they'd both reach a point where they both couldn't take it anymore. He'd sort of believed that Starscream going rouge was that point, and after he came back things would be better. It had been better for a while, yet, after some time, a new incident had happened. Despite his journey through the seeker's memories, neither had addressed what was really the problem: that they were both fed up with how the other was behaving, and they both had good reason for it.

Yes, he could admit that Starscream did have a good reason for wanting him dead. He'd been in that kind of position himself, where nothing was good enough, and knew what it felt like. Yet, he wasn't sure how else he should've reacted all those times Starscream went against him. All those times he'd cause trouble for no other reason than because he could. It basically ended up as a vicious circle, were he punished Starscream for his actions, then a Starscream wanted revenge for those punishments.

How had he been so blind before that he hadn't seen that?! Even now, after his change, it hadn't dawned on him that it was all really simple. All the pain that could've been avoided if they'd just been able to address the real problem. Of if at least one of them could've seen this. But no, they'd both remained unaware it seems.

"Starscream and I have many things we should've discussed before. What happened just now is the result of avoiding the issue for too long." He admitted honestly. He didn't believe there was much he could say now that would make the situation worse anyway.

Ultra Magnus looked very unsure about that explanation, but didn't say anything more about it.

"Would that explanation be satisfactory for the Decepticons? In order to explain what happened?"

Megatron fought the urge to roll his optics, because he knew they didn't think much of it anyway, and answered truthfully. "I doubt they will ask, but if they do, or the Autobots for that matter, then you may tell them that."

A moment of silence went by.

"And what of the newsparks?"

Suddenly the situation got even worse. The newsparks! He hadn't event thought of them. If any of them had seen it… if Rodimus had seen it. Primus, if he had _heard_ any of if…

Part of him was terrified Rodimus now would be scared of him, that he wouldn't see him again. Another part was thinking it was about time. He did have more than enough reason. But, by the stars, he didn't want it to end like this. Especially not after the string of thoughts Smokescreen's comment from earlier had brought forth. He wanted to at least explain himself.

To Ultra Magnus he ended up saying, "I'll leave that up to you. As long as what they hear is the truth."

Ultra Magnus nodded and, as if reading his thoughts, he added, "As soon as I have time, I'll find Rodimus and explain to him myself." Megatron relaxed slightly, knowing Rodimus at least would get some answers. He knew the questions would rage through him like a disease, whether he'd heard it personally or not.

"Thank you."

The Autobot however, wasn't relaxed. Megatron saw the tension in his shoulders as well as the protective stance. He also now noticed the door wasn't closed.

He'd been right. Ever bit of the trust he'd gained over the last weeks were gone. He didn't blame him though.

"I will see if there is any work you can do from here. Until further notice however, you are to stay here. There will be guards outside the door."

Megatron nodded. Ultra Magnus left.

-o-o-o-o-

Ultra Magnus had what he believed the human nurse had called a migraine. The reason he used that word was because he'd had plenty of helm-aches before, and this situation had brought forth a different kind of pain than usual.

He really wished Optimus was here now.

He _knew_ Megatron and Starscream had their issues, he'd been warned that there would be some sort of blow out, but he would never have expected they would rip at each other's throats like that. And in front of everyone else, like a stage were they wanted to show who had the better insults. One thing is having an argument, everyone had arguments and disagreed with someone else, but this was different. He hadn't heard much at that moment, only seen the way they'd looked - glared - at each other. And that wasn't the same look you gave someone you disagreed with.

It'd been a look of anger, hate, disappointment, hurt, betrayal and pain. And 'unfinished buisniss' wasn't the only reason, he could tell that much.

Still, they were both adults. Adults who'd been able to work together through the war. And the way they'd handled their frustrations, were not adult-like. If two younglings had started yelling at each and calling each other the foulest names, he would've understood. If two of the newsparks had made all that noise, he would've understood. When it was two well grown adults, he did not understand.

He'd been afraid that they'd start with physical blows when neither stepped back at his order, and hadn't thought twice about bringing out weapons, but prayed he didn't have to use them. Though his optics were on the two in front of him, he'd felt how half the crowd had shifted and became defensive. If he'd shot Megatron in front of all those Decepticons, they'd be worried about more than riots.

A small victory was that Megatron had calmed down and realised the situation very quickly. As well as taken Ultra Magnus orders. He hoped, but doubted, Starscream would do the same.

"Bulkhead. Bumblebee." He addressed the two Autobots as he came closer. They both looked as confused about their situation as he felt.

"Ultra Magnus." The greeted back.

"Uh, any luck with Megatron?" Bulkhead asked hesitantly, clearly not sure how to phrase the question.

"I believe so." He said. "He explained a little about what happened, and is cooperating with my orders." He hoped the last part would give them a little sense of things being in control. It'd helped him at least. "Did Starscream resist you in any way?" He asked,

Both shook their helms.

"No. Didn't say or do anything, and we haven't heard anything since he went inside either." Bumblebee answered.

Ultra Magnus was glad there hadn't been anymore trouble, but his mind immediately went to how not resisting was unlike Starscream, and that he still was in that state of being Knockout had worried about. Which meant this 'talk' hadn't helped at all.

" _Believe me, Ultra Magnus, whenever they do have this talk, it will either turn out to be a good idea, or a big mistake."_

It'd been a big mistake. There was no doubt about it.

He opened up the door, and made sure it stayed open, before he went inside.

Starscream sat immobile on the edge of his berth, his servos clutching the edge so hard he could see the metal bend underneath. It was the residence of lubricant on his faceplate that caught Ultra Magnus optics however.

He didn't know Starscream very well, but he didn't believe crying was something he did often.

"Starscream. I want to know what happened out there." He said, forcing his voice to be gentler than with Megatron.

"Then tell Soundwave to show you. I doubt he missed much." Starscream was trying to keep his tone flat, but wasn't successful. His voice was pained and shaky.

"Soundwave can show me the actions you took. However, I want to hear _why_ it happened."

Starscream scoffed. "Didn't you hear us? We hate each other." He refused to look at him, only staring straight ahead.

"And why is that?" Ultra Magnus prodded. This went just as easily as he thought it would.

"Soundwave can show you that too."

Ultra Magnus clenched his jaw, holding in his frustration. Part of him wanted to shake the answer out, he knew he had the right to, but it would only worsen the situation. And he also knew he would regret it later if he did. He would let the seeker be for now then.

"You are confined to your room until further notice. There will be guards outside at all times. Knockout will come by later and-"

"If that glitch enters this room," Starscream interrupted him, turning his helm and finally looking at Ultra Magnus. His optics was full of rage. And hurt. No matter how hard he tried to avoid it, Ultra Magnus couldn't ignore the fact that Starscream was hurt. He had no idea how to address that. "I swear, he will be the one who needs medical attention."

"Why?"

"Because he involved Megatron! He caused this!" Starscream stood up on shaky pedes. His good wing flared up behind him. "He knows what Megatron has done to me, and yet he thought it was a good idea to involve him! He knows what I think about it and he still did it! I don't want anything from him ever again!"

Ultra Magnus let Starscream finish before he took over. "I will not pretend I understand what is going on between you and Megatron, what I do know, it that you need to solve it in a civil and mature way. Megatron has admitted his wrongdoings, yet I feel inclined to remind you that it takes at least two parties to have a fight. You are both at fault and you both need to take part in solving your problem." If looks could kill, Starscream would've turned him to ashes then and there. "I want to help you Starscream. However, I need you to accept my help, and cooperate. Is that clear?"

Starscream narrowed his optics, he glare still deadly, but answered, "Yes."

Ultra Magnus nodded, satisfied he at least got an answer. "Good." He made an attempt to appear more relaxed, less intimidating. "You will be given energon later, and should there be work you can preform from here, that will be provided as well. And I will assign a different medic to you." He added in the end, certain that no matter what he said, Knockout would not be welcome near Starscream just yet.

Starscream didn't say anything else, but sat down again, returning his optics to the air in front of him.

Ultra Magnus decided it was time for him to leave then.

He told Bumblebee and Bulkhead they'd be relived in two groons, and to contact him if anything happened. Just as he turned, he saw Knockout rounding a corner.

"Ultra Magnus! I swear I never-" he cut himself of and stopped in front of the commander. His optics was wide open and nervous, darting from one side to the other. He shook his helm repeatedly. "I am truly sorry, I shouldn't have involved Megatron." He ended up saying.

Ultra Magnus shook his helm, dismissing the apology. "This wasn't your doing." He said. "Megatron and Starscream clearly has… issues." A mild word, but he didn't feel like looking up anything that might fit more. Who knew if there even was one word to describe it.

"Yes, but I am still partly to blame." Knockout answered. He did calm down though, seemingly relived that Ultra Magnus wasn't mad at him. He was mad at the two who was responsible, no one else. "I knew involving Megatron had it's risks..."

So did Ultra Magnus. Everyone knew they'd had a complicated past, for several reasons, but he hadn't stopped it. He'd hoped things would continue to go the way it had these last weeks, slowly but surely forward. Of course, they were bound to hit a problem, soon, that was simply how life worked, so maybe he should've thought more about it. "No matter who's fault it is Knockout, it's happened and we can't change that." He began walking again, gesturing for the doctor to follow him. "What matter now is how we're supposed to handle it. Megatron is cooperating, while Starscream is less willing to. For now however he's not working against us."

"I'm guessing he doesn't want me to preform that check on him anymore." Knockout said, tiredness slipping into his voice.

"No, he doesn't. You'll have to assign another doctor to him, for the time being at least." Knockout hummed in agreement. "Tell him to bring an energon cube with him, as well as any equipment needed, as Starscream isn't leaving his room."

"Yes, sir." Knockout said. After a few more instructions, like receiving the report of Starscream's status later, they departed. He was headed outside, deeming it wise to find as Rodimus as quickly as possible. Who knew what he would do if no one answered his questions fast enough.

He noticed immediately how the tension was still high outside. And it made him nervous as well. He really hoped this wouldn't last long. He understood why it would make tensions high, but it wasn't what any of them needed now. They'd made such great progress, and he wanted that to continue.

The newsparks seemed mostly unaffected, thankfully. Most was still playing like they always had, but there was a few who looked confused.

"Ultra Magnus, sir." It was Azo, one of the teachers. "I'm glad you're here." He looked behind him, and Ultra Magnus followed his gaze until it landed on Rodimus, sitting hunched over on the ground. "Nothing I say is helping, and it's worrying the other newsparks too, especially his friends." There was no need to ask if this involved the two Decepticons.

"Was he there, or did someone tell him about it?"

"He heard at least half of it. He's very confused and worried, and, even though he hasn't said it, I think it scared him too." Azo was worried as well, but more for the newsparks than the rest of it. Thank Primus for his calm nature, it really worked with the newsparks.

"I will talk with Rodimus. You may inform anyone else who asks that the two Decpeticons had a fight, but everything is being handled." Azo nodded, and then walked over to Rodimus. He bent down and said something to him, pointing in Ultra Magnus' direction. Rodimus looked up, and was quickly back on his pedes.

"Ultra Magnus!" Rodimus ran up to him. "Azo said you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yes. Come with me for a moment." He took the newspark away from the rest, wanting to have a little bit of privacy. He stopped once he felt they were far enough away. "I understand you heard some of the things Starscream and Megatron said to each other?"

Rodimus nodded. "Yeah… I did."

"And it upset you?"

Again, he nodded.

"That is understandable. I think everyone was shocked over what happened."

"No." Rodimus said, surprising him. "Not everyone. I've heard before that someone thought they would fight, and now someone said it was 'bound to happen'." He frowned and bit his lip.

Ultra Magnus gritted his dentas. He was tempted to ask if he remembered who it was so Ultra Magnus could talk to them too. Didn't they think about who might be listening?

"Then, perhaps you know that Megatron and Starscream haven't really been friends during the war?" He tried instead.

"Yes. They said so too themselves." He couldn't help but feel relived. At least that part wasn't a shock. "But that still doesn't explain those thing they said to each other! They were so, so, so mean! I don't mean just the words, I've heard bad words before, but the way they said them was awful! And they were so angry at each other, like they wanted to-" Rodimus stopped and looked away.

"Like they wanted to… kill each other?" Ultra Magnus finished, voice gentle. He could tell this bothered Rodimus more than he let on.

A small and barely noticeable nod came from the newspark.

"I've just talked with both Megatron and Starscream." Rodimus immediately turned back to him, his expression hopeful. "Megatron explained that him and Starscream have avoided talking for quite some time. And happened earlier was a result of that."

"So," Rodimus frowned, "they suddenly begun to fight because they haven't talked with each other?"

Ultra Magnus nodded.

"That still doesn't make any sense!"

He exhaled. This was harder than he thought. How do you explain something you don't understand yourself?

"I know. I agree that this is all very confusing, but I don't know everything either."

Rodimus shook his helm, not accepting the explanation. "Can't I talk to them? Just for a little while?"

'Them' Ultra Magnus raised an optical ridge. "From what I hear, you and Starscream haven't been speaking for a while?"

"I know, but…" he looked unsure, his optics locked on something behind Ultra Magnus. His expression then changed. "I know him, and I want to be his friend. And Megatron _is_ my friend." He said seriously. Ultra Magnus shook his helm.

"I understand and respect your dedication, Rodimus, but I can't allow it. Not yet, at least." First of, he was still unsure about how calm the two Decepticons really were. He was not taking any chances with any of the newsparks like this, despite neither of them had ever showed any sign of harming them. And second… he looked over the disappointed newspark in front of him. The situation wasn't good for him, and the main reason was his attachment to those involved. Maybe it hadn't been a good idea to let him spend so much time with either of the Decepticons. He hadn't wanted to intervene as long as he wasn't hurt. He couldn't control everything after all, and it was impossible to keep every newspark away from his former enemies. However, Rodimus admired them more so than most others, looking up to them as most looked up to Optimus, which was worrisome. And, at least when it came to Megatron, he didn't think of him as just a friend. That much was clear.

"Why not?"

He wasn't sure, really, but he believed it was a good idea to keep Rodimus away from them for a little while.

"Because you need to let me and team Prime handle this. We need to make sure everyone understand that this doesn't change our truce, and we need to do it our way."

"But-"

"We handled ourselves before you came, Rodimus, and we will handle this too. You need to trust us." He changed his tone so Rodimus understood he was serious.

Rodimus looked like he was about to say more, but held it in. Instead he clenched his servos and sent Ultra Magnus a disapproving glare.

"Fine. I'll try." He said, and walked away. He wasn't happy about it, he knew that, but at least he seemed to understand.

Ultra Magnus just hoped he wouldn't do what he usually did. That usually cause more problems.

 **-o-o-o-o-**

 **And that was this chapter. Hope I makes the last one make a little sense. Or maybe you thought it made sense already. You guys are so clever, I don't know what is and isn't a surprise. Meant as a compliment!**

 **Thank you so much for reading by the way :D**

 **To God belongs all the glory, even that of this story.**


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